Until The End Of Time
by Glacia92
Summary: Sofia Amaral has dedicated all her life to chronon research, and wants to take her career to the next level. Little does she know that meeting Paul Serene will change her life completely, as well as her priorities: save mankind from the end of time. And save Paul from becoming the enemy. [Sofia A./Paul S.], Dr. Kim, M. Hatch, mentioning of other characters OC's. Possible sequel.
1. Prologue

**Hi beautiful people, and welcome to this fanfiction! So basically I was cleaning up my hard disk and found this. I know it's super old and no one will probably read it, and I know I have another fanfic to complete, but it IS finished, and I thought 'why not'? I really loved the game and all the characters, but sorry to say, this time I am on the side of the villain. If you can call Paul a villain, that is. I also read the book, and can't help but believe that Jack is completely ignorant of the consequences of the end of time. So yeah, Paul is right all along, and though his methods may be questioned at times, he simply wants to save the world. He doesn't want money, or power or to rule the world, but merely help save others.**

 **I wanted to give him and Sofia a better ending than the one showed in the game (and the book), so this story will mainly be about their relationship and how it developed, from mere colleagues to something more, as well as Sofia and Henry Kim's struggle to find a cure to chronon syndrome :) Also, I had originally planned a sequel to this fic with a completely original plot, but I am not promising anything, really. It's been too long, but I will see...**

 **The story will swap from Sofia's POV to Paul's, but will mainly be from Sofia's perspective.**

 **Finally, I just wanted to add that English is not my first language and that this fic has not been beta'd, so you may find some mistakes and inconsistencies. I did my best studying the timeline and the sequence of events, and believe me: it was A LOT of work, so I hope everything I wrote makes sense.**

 **And now, here goes!**

 **P.S. All the characters potrayed in this story (apart from my OC's) and the Quantum Break universe do not belong to me, and no profit is made by publishing this fiction. It's all for the sake of a happy ending! :D**

* * *

Sofia was standing by the entrance doors, staring at the colossal building in front of her. She had arrived early, too early, fearing to be late at the most important job interview of her life.  
She kept a tight grip on her folder, containing a detailed copy of her CV, references and researches written by her ever since her graduation at Riverport University years before.  
Sofia was nervous and hesitated before finally mustering up the courage to pass through the glass doors of Monarch Solutions.

* * *

Paul Serene was sitting in a large leather chair in his office located at the 49th floor of Monarch Solutions Tower. He was giving his back to the breathtaking view of Riverport that could be seen from all over Paul's office-apartment through its tall windows.

He had a stack of papers scattered across his desk, and they almost seemed to urgently be calling to him before he would reach the deadline.

Paul was massaging his temples with his index and middle fingers, eyes closed in the process.

A long day awaited: he first had a meeting with Dr. Kim and the Chronon Research Team to receive an update on the Chronon Tech and its progress, then he would meet Martin Hatch to discuss about said update so they could proceed to Phase 2. He would also need to schedule a better training program for Monarch Soldiers and the different teams so they could equally use the training field without overcrowding it. To top it all, he would end his work day with and interview to hire a new Chronon researcher to implement in Dr. Kim's team.

His watch beeped to signal it was time to begin.

Paul sighed heavily, then stood up, grabbed his jacket and went for the door where he stopped to give one last, longing look at his quiet and comfortable room before leaving it to start his day.


	2. Chapter 1

Sofia was nervously tapping her fingers upon the reception desk while waiting for the secretary to tell her where she would be having her interview.

The young, attractive girl was typing fast on her keyboard, stopping just to give Sofia a half-frustrated, half-amused look.

"8th floor, office 3a" said the secretary, giving her an encouraging smile "Good luck, Miss Amaral".

"Thank you" replied Sofia with a small voice.

She headed to the elevator with her heart racing and feeling the secretary's gaze upon her neck.

It took only a few seconds from the 1st floor to the 8th, and when a female voice announced her chosen floor, Sofia stepped out suddenly feeling butterflies in her stomach.

The 8th floor was relatively quiet. Few employees wearing neat suits were either working at their computer stations or exchanging opinions with each other from inside the office rooms. Each room was rectangular in shape and with glass walls, though sound-proof so that their mutterings were barely audible.

Sofia studied the employees and smoothed her black skirt, made sure her high-heeled shoes were polished, and that her hair and make-up still looked acceptable through her own reflection in the glass.

She then found herself pacing back and forth in front of door 3a, which was still empty and with the lights out, before resolving to sit down on a wooden chair located outside the office room.

To her relief, office 3a was separated from the others by a wall, so that she wouldn't need to be stared at by the working employees during her interview.

It was still 15 minutes left before her interview would start and Sofia, starting to shake in impatience, decided to read for what was the 10th time the history of Monarch Solutions, and made sure she remembered all the important names and dates in order to impress her interviewer, Paul Serene.

The fact that the CEO himself would interview her made her feel possibly even worse, and for a minute she seriously considered running away while she had time. But the rational part of her ordered her to take a deep breath and calm down: Paul Serene was most likely and elder, grumpy businessman, probably more bored than anything about interviewing a scared woman rather than taking care of more serious matters. But then again, if her interview was not that important, why would the CEO himself preside it?

While she was busy thinking about what the mysterious face behind Monarch would look like, a man in his mid-40s and with salt-and-pepper hair approached her.

"Good afternoon" he said politely.

Sofia was so startled that she immediately shot up with a tiny shriek.

"H-hi!" she stuttered with a high-pitched voice, automatically offering her hand to the man "Are you here for the interview too?"

"Ehm...yes, you can say that I suppose" the man replied with an amused smirk and taking her hand to shake it.

He looked incredibly professional in his dark grey suit and with his calm demeanor, and Sofia suddenly felt hopeless as her self-esteem sank. She sat down with a defeated expression, and the man took a seat beside her.

Something about that man made Sofia feel very strange: his elegance and the aura of power he radiated made her feel like a newly graduated candidate, and yet he was charming and polite, and his presence somehow relaxed her. The fresh fragrance he smelled of awoke something in her memory, taking her to long lost yet happy places.

For a moment, her brown eyes met his light-blue ones, and her heart kicked again, this time not because of nervousness. She quickly looked away, blushing slightly.

"So, what is your name?" the man asked with a soft voice.

"Sofia" she answered "Sofia Amaral".

"Nice to meet you, Sofia", the man continued "and which position have you applied for?"

"Researcher" she answered, lowering her voice.

"Something's wrong?" the man asked, tilting his head to one side so he could see her face again, shielded by her black hair.

Sofia blushed again and muttered "You look much more qualified than me."

"Do I?" the man sounded genuinely surprised "I doubt that."

At these words, Sofia raised her head and gave him a questioning look.

"May I see that?" he asked, pointing at her folder. Sofia gave it to him, and the man opened it and began examining her files, moving his eyes so quickly she doubted he was actually reading. He then closed the folder all of a sudden and returned it with a smirk. He wouldn't stop staring at her with an expectant expression.

"What?" asked Sofia, and she couldn't refrain a shy smile at his funny expression.

"You're hired" the man said, his smirk growing wider.

"Uh?" Sofia said dumbly.

"You're hired" the man repeated simply, then he stood up.

Sofia was so taken aback she almost dropped her jaws. She just sat there, with an expression of pure confusion on her face which made the man chuckle. He then blinked at her and elegantly turned around and left with a "See you around, Sofia".

She was so shocked she stayed right there for several minutes, her brain refusing to process any of it. Then someone from a nearby office opened the door and came out carrying a stack of papers.

Sofia fixed her gaze upon him, but her attention was quickly caught by the picture of a man, with a now familiar smirk, looking straight at her from the notification board attached to the opposite wall.

"Excuse me!" she called, and the man carrying the papers turned around, visibly annoyed.

"Yes?" he said, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Could you-could you just tell me who that man is?" she asked, pointing at the picture.

"Who's that?" the old man asked after turning to the direction indicated by Sofia "That is Paul Serene, our CEO! I tell you, young lady, you work here and don't even know who your employer is? What's going to be of this place?"

But Sofia was no longer listening to him: she froze there in place, barely noticing the old man leave, still muttering about the regrettable choices of the company when it came to choosing new employees. Not only had she just had her interview she had prepared so long for without even realizing it AND got the job, but she had also met the unknown face behind Monarch Solutions that most people knew only by name. And what was even more surprising was how completely different he was from how she had initially imagined him to be.

* * *

Paul Serene walked out of the meeting room and headed towards the elevator. The meeting with the Chronon Research Team had taken more time than he had originally planned, so he would have to schedule a new training program another time. Or work overnight as he was doing more and more often ever since the creation of Ground Zero that July. Martin Hatch was walking by his side, carefully studying Dr. Kim's report.

"We are proceeding according to our timetable. The collection of chronon particles is going as planned, and we should soon have enough to guarantee the completion of the Lifeboat Protocol on time. On the other hand, the research team is not making much progress when it comes to finding a cure to your syndrome. Paul, are you listening?"

Paul looked at Hatch at the sound of his own name.

"I am sorry, Martin. I suppose I am just tired."

"Then you should go straight to your room and sleep. You've been working too much lately. I can take care of the interview this afternoon".

"No, I want to do it. I need to make sure this person has got all the requirements I am looking for. Though I trust your judgement and appreciate your help, this is something I want to do myself. And perhaps the candidate will prove a dumb idiot like all the others that showed up just too see my face rather than for the position itself, so luckily I will be in bed before 9 PM" said Paul, sounding bored.

Hatch looked annoyed for an instant, but forced a friendly expression on his face and left wishing Paul a good evening.

Paul took the elevator to the 8th floor and checked his watch: it was still 15 minutes left before the interview would start, so he could grab a cup of coffee to revive him a little.

This was the last candidate who had applied for the junior researcher position, and Paul had lost hope by now.

The familiar female voice announced the 8th floor, and Paul walked to office 3a, giving a short nod to the employees who stopped their work to wish him a good afternoon.

He turned the corner and his eyes immediately fell on a dark-haired woman around 30 lost in thought, her head bent over a pile of documents.

She was so concentrated she didn't notice his arrival. For some reason, her focused expression amused him, and he smirked while speaking.

"Good afternoon" he said.

The woman shrieked and stood up immediately.

"H-hi! Are you here for the interview too?" she stuttered, shooting her hand forward. He took her hand and shook it.

"Ehm…yes, you can say that I suppose".

She looked like a scared puppy, but this only made her look prettier. Paul also noticed that she couldn't keep eye contact for too long and kept looking away.

She suddenly sat down with what looked like a defeated expression, and Paul sat beside her, locking his eyes with hers. She immediately blushed and diverted her eyes. Paul's smirk grew wider.

"So, what is your name?" he asked, moving his head to one side so he could see her face again.

"Sofia" she answered shyly "Sofia Amaral".

"Nice to meet you, Sofia" he said. Paul liked her name: it came from Old Greek and meant "wisdom", which suited her intelligent look "And which position have you applied for?"

He knew, of course, but tried to find a topic of conversation which would prevent him from exclusively focusing on her pretty face.

"Researcher" she replied, and now she sounded almost desperate.

"Something's wrong?" he asked.

Sofia blushed again and muttered "You look much more qualified than me".

"Do I?" said Paul, not expecting that particular answer "I doubt that".

Sofia raised her head and gave him a questioning look.

"May I see that?" he suddenly asked, pointing at the folder she was previously reading. Sofia gave it to him without a word, and he began to read: she was young and yet highly qualified. She had scored top marks at Riverport University, and her publications had been written intelligently, in logical sequences, showing her organizational skills. She was shy and modest, yet her writing style was assertive.

He closed the folder and returned it, then he smirked again, waiting for her to ask him the question.

"What?" she finally asked, smiling a beautiful smile.

"You're hired" Paul replied.

"Uh?" Sofia's eyes widened in surprise.

"You're hired" Paul repeated simply, standing up to leave. When she didn't say anything, he turned around and left with a "See you around, Sofia", chuckling at the shocked expression printed on her face.


	3. Chapter 2

Sofia was sitting in her new office, which she shared with two other junior researchers: Julia and Karin. The two girls were friendly and easy-going, and Sofia was extremely grateful for that. She had actually expected her new workplace to be packed with people in suits, acting all formal and always in a rush. She was therefore surprised to see how friendly and welcoming everyone was being to her. With a sole exception: Martin Hatch, Monarch's spokesperson. She had crossed his path at the reception, and smiled at him. He, however, gave her a look of pure loathe and proceeded without stopping.

Sofia was just telling her new co-workers about the interview she had had three days before with Paul Serene while waiting for instructions about what she should be doing on her first day.

"Paul Serene interviewed you?!" exclaimed Julia, eyes widening.

"Yes…and I didn't even ask him his name when we shook hands!" exclaimed Sofia, still mentally smacking herself.

"Okay, THAT is embarrassing" continued Karin, laughing loudly at her awkwardness.

"I had NO idea that was Mr. Serene! I thought he was just a candidate like me…I mean he is so…" Sofia trailed off, embarrassed.

"…Hot" completed Karin for her "We know". Julia and Karin exchanged a knowing look, and Sofia realized that Paul Serene was many of his own female employees' dream.

"Anyway, I would have hung myself after realizing that was Paul Serene" said Karin.

"Karin!" Julia reprimanded the other.

"Well, I said _I_ would have hung myself. That does not mean Sofia has to…" replied Karin with nonchalance.

"Still, I don't understand why Mr. Serene himself would waste his time interviewing a junior researcher. We were not that lucky, Karin" said Julia.

Their chattering was suddenly interrupted by someone opening the door without knocking, and Martin Hatch entered the office.

"'Morning, ladies" he said in his deep, commanding voice "I expect you to complete our research on the CFR within schedule. There is no time for chatting".

Julia and Karin immediately got to work without another word.

"Now, Miss Amaral. If you'll want to follow me" he said coolly, and turned around to leave.

Julia and Karin gave her nervous glances, but Sofia followed Hatch to the elevators, which brought them down to the 3rd floor. He then wordlessly led her to a room, occupied only by a man standing by a whiteboard. The whiteboard recited "Chronon particles and its applications: an introduction".

Sofia was then introduced to the kind-looking man she had seen many times before on popular scientific magazines and even on TV: Dr. Henry Kim, one of her heroes.

"Dr. Kim! It is an honor to meet you in person. I have read all of your publications!" Sofia said in awe.

"Thank you, my dear. It is a pleasure to meet you and have you as part of my team. Now, if you'll want to take a seat, I will introduce you to our research program" said Dr. Kim, shaking hands with her and smiling widely.

Hatch had already taken a seat, farthest from them, and looked extremely bored.

While Sofia sat, Dr. Kim positioned himself in front of the whiteboard, ready to begin.

"Before you begin, Henry, I would like to remind Miss Amaral that, according to our procedures and appendix D of her contract, she will not be allowed to divulge any of the information she is about to receive and that she will receive in the future, to her family, friends, media or anyone else unless so instructed by her superior, and prior my authorization of Mr. Serene's. Is this clear, Miss Amaral?" said Hatch, fixing his hawk-like gaze upon her. Sofia nodded firmly, but was actually wondering what would be so secret about Monarch that required such strict procedures.

"Now, Sofia" started Dr. Kim, lifting the tension in the room "I am confident you have heard about Meyer-Joyce particles, also known as chronon, as Mr. Serene has provided me with a very detailed dossier about you and your studies. You are, in fact, highly informed if I may say so myself".

Sofia couldn't help but smile broadly.

"What I am about to reveal to you today, however, will sound hard to believe and I therefore ask you to listen carefully, and wait with any questions that will surely arise".

By now, Sofia was very intrigued and adjusted her position in the seat.

"Ok, where do I actually begin?" said Dr. Kim, scratching his bald head.

* * *

When Dr. Kim had finished his explanation almost one hour later, Sofia was unsure whether she should laugh or think she was the victim of a joke.

How could she possibly believe that William Joyce, the scientist who had discovered the existence of chronon particles, had created a time-machine which allowed a subject to travel in the past or the future?

How could she believe that a much younger Paul Serene, once the leader of a research program at Riverport University, had decided to test the machine on himself with the help of William's younger and more rebellious brother, Jack, ignoring Dr. Joyce's warnings and provoking a fracture in time which was leading to the end of time and, consequently, of the world?

And now Monarch was trying to save humankind by studying a solution in a chamber located in the very basement of Monarch Tower, which was powered by a device called CFR, the only chamber where time stutters would not affect the normal course of life. The whole program was called Lifeboat Protocol, and only few, selected employees would have access to it when time came, which was also why they were not allowed to freely talk about it with everyone.

"But if I am just a junior researcher who has just been employed, why have I been granted access to the Lifeboat Protocol?" asked Sofia, still very confused.

Dr. Kim opened his mouth to answer, but Martin Hatch was faster "Because Mr. Serene thinks you could prove…very helpful" he said with a strange tone. Was it just her, or did Hatch actually not like her in the least?

"Sofia…may I call you Sofia?" started Dr. Kim, and Sofia nodded with a smile "I will escort you to our laboratory, so you can have a better overview of what we are working on". Hatch took this as his chance to leave, and so he did, giving just a short nod to Dr. Kim.

Sofia then followed Dr. Kim to the 11th floor and then to a large laboratory, where a team of five was busy analyzing square, white boxes with Monarch logo on it.

After quickly saying hi to the rest of the team (Michael, Monica, Spencer, Alfred and Fiona), who was too busy to start a real conversation, Sofia was brought to a white counter with a tall chair.

"This is going to be your working station, mine is right over there" said Dr. Kim, pointing at his own bench to the far left "And over there, you can access the restricted part of the laboratory, where we keep our chronon particles in the containers the others are analyzing at the moment. It is important to monitor these containers regularly, and make sure the density and flow are stable. As you know, we need to collect as many particles as possible from Ground Zero, where they are most commonly found, to guarantee the success of our project. But that is not all it is expected from you".

Sofia listened carefully to Dr. Kim's instructions, and waited for him to continue, but he didn't.

"I suppose Paul will want to inform you directly about the rest" he simply said after a moment. He then turned around and walked to the nearest counter, where Spencer had just started using what looked like a metal syringe to extract something from the box in front of him.

"Sir, what should I do now?" Sofia asked, feeling dumb just standing there while the others walked around with their heads bent over their block-notes.

"Why, you may pay Mr. Serene a visit!" Dr. Kim said with a smile.

* * *

Sofia was standing outside a door on the 49th floor. The plate on the door read "P. Serene, CEO", but she just couldn't bring her hand to knock.

"Oh for God's sake, what's the matter with you?" Sofia muttered to herself and, after taking a deep breath, finally knocked on the door.

"Come in" said a voice from the inside.

Sofia found herself opening the door with shaking hands, and entered the room. She had expected a large, dark room with wooden floor and bookshelves all around the walls. Paul Serene's office, instead, could not be more different: the sunrays filtered brightly through the tall windows behind the CEO's station, and a simple desk was at the center of the room. A wall was covering the rest of the office to her right.

"Ah, Sofia! Please, come take a seat" Serene said with a wide smile and indicating a leather chair in front of his desk. Sofia hesitantly stepped forward and took her assigned seat.

"So, how are you doing? I hope Dr. Kim is not being too harsh on you?" he asked.

"Oh no, sir! Dr. Kim is actually very nice" Sofia answered quickly.

"That's good to hear" Serene said with a short nod. He then stood up and walked towards the other side of the office. Sofia followed him with her eyes, and was amazed: the rest of the office – was it _actually_ an office? – resembled more an apartment, with wooden stairs leading to the bottom floor, while the upper one led to a comfortable-looking bed. Sofia's heart gave a kick and she realized that she not only was in Paul Serene's office, but was indeed in his own apartment too!

"You may come downstairs, Sofia" said Serene from the bottom of the stairs.

Sofia stood up and walked towards the stairs, enjoying the warmth of the sun on her skin. The view from his room was beautiful!

"Welcome to my humble home" Serene said softly, and leading her to the right, where a small kitchen and a sofa were. He invited her to sit on the comfortable sofa while he proceeded to the kitchen to grab two cups, then activated the coffee machine.

Sofia was so taken aback by the sight of such a powerful man making coffee for himself and his employee, instead of just ordering someone to bring them some, she raised an eyebrow.

Serene then turned around and took a seat in front of her. Sofia must still have a confused expression on her face, because Serene asked her if she was feeling well.

"Oh, yes, I am fine, sir" she replied quickly.

Serene slightly bent his head to one side and smirked "Do you find weird that I have allowed you into my apartment?"

"Well, that is definitely _unusual_ " she answered.

Serene looked at her for a moment before speaking "Not many of my employees have been here. I can daresay very selected few have, actually".

Sofia was starting to feel uncomfortable with Serene's intense gaze fixed upon her. She shifted her position and put both her hands on her legs. Her heart was speeding up.

"Sir…?" she questioned, but realized she didn't know what to ask.

"Sofia..." he said very slowly and quietly, almost whispering "I need your help." His eyes unfocused for a moment, and Sofia froze in place.

His whole being looked different: his eyes bore right into hers but were not really looking at her and his mind seemed absent.

"Mr. Serene, sir?" she said hesitantly, carefully leaning forward to him.

He blinked a couple of times and then continued if nothing had ever happened "Do you know why I have chosen you, Sofia? Why the CEO himself has given up some of his precious time to come to your interview?"

"No, sir. I…" started Sofia, but Serene continued "Because I see great potential in you. You may be my only hope".

His voice sounded almost desperate, and Sofia gave him a questioning look.

The machine behind them beeped, and Serene suddenly stood up to empty its content into the two mugs he had previously prepared.

"Sugar?" he asked, positioning a mug on the table in front of her.

"No, thank you" she said. He had returned to his normal, kind self, but his behavior was definitely confusing her.

Serene took a sip from his mug, and then sat down again.

"I prefer it with sugar. I don't know how people can drink this without" he said, taking a spoon of sugar from the box on the table and stirring his coffee. Sofia blinked several times, and started to wonder what was going on with him: a second before he had seemed far away, almost dangerous, and now he was being all friendly and nice.

"Sir, could you tell me exactly what you meant to say just moments ago?" Sofia asked carefully.

Serene took another slow sip of his coffee. "Ah, that's much better! Now, Sofia, could you remind me what I said, precisely?"

"Uhm, that you…that you need my help…and that I may be your last hope" she said, blushing slightly.

"Ah yes" Serene said, suddenly fixing his eyes upon his hands, almost as if he was seeing them for the first time "I definitely did not choose you just for your pretty face, that's for sure" he smirked at her, and Sofia's heart kicked one more time, her face now as red as a tomato.

Serene didn't appear to notice it, though. "You are a very talented scientist. I have read all of your publications, studied your dossier. You possess the right qualities for the job I will assign you. You will in fact not only be working with the rest of the research team to complete the studies on the CFR and the Lifeboat Protocol, but will have to focus on an equally important project together with me and Dr. Kim."

"What is this project exactly, sir?" Sofia asked while taking a sip of her black coffee, glad that he was finally revealing her the real reason why she had come to his office.

"A cure" he said simply.

"A cure? To what? Sir, I am no doctor" Sofia tried to protest, but Serene continued "I know you are not a doctor. But no doctor can help. Trust me, I know. The cure we need to find is correlated to the chronon, and only highly qualified scientists like you and Dr. Kim can make it. One needs to possess all the possible information and education, together with Monarch's technology, to solve this problem".

Paul then looked at her again, his expression indecipherable. "You will receive an e-mail with all the material you will need to study before starting on the project. Dr. Kim will brief you about the rest".

It sounded like a dismissal, and Sofia stood up, followed shortly after by Serene. He then escorted her to the upper floor and to the door.

"I suppose I will see you soon, Sofia" he said, giving her a kind smile.

"Yes, yes…Good evening, Mr. Serene" she replied, turning to leave.

"Sofia?" Paul called, and she immediately spun around "I know you will succeed".

She smiled at him, and then turned to leave while he closed the door behind them.

* * *

She was walking back to her office, deep in thought. Paul Serene needed her and Dr. Kim to find a cure to something related to chronon. She had no idea what he was talking about, but he had sounded desperate. Could this possibly be about him? But he looked perfectly healthy, though she had to admit he had scared her for a second when his eyes had unfocused.

She then repeated the whole scene in her head, trying to include all the possible details: his humble office in contrast with his cozy apartment, his bed neatly made, the pictures on the walls, the small kitchen, the comfortable sofa with the bookshelf on the left-hand side and the newspaper lying on the coffee table. She remembered a door, which didn't match with the colors and style of the rest of the apartment, as if it had been put there by mistake.

She also remembered Mr. Serene's behavior, initially charming as always suddenly shifting into something more sinister.

But she also found herself remembering a specific sentence: " _I definitely did not choose you just for your pretty face, that's for sure_ ". She had blushed back then, and blushed once again at that particular memory. Had he just said he found her cute?

She was so concentrated she slammed against Julia's back.

"Hey, watch where you're going, Sofia!"

"I'm sorry! I was just…" Sofia stopped from saying " _I was just thinking about Paul Serene, our CEO that just told me I am pretty_ ".

"You've been away for a while. I hope Hatch hasn't given you a hard time like he does with all the others" continued Julia, suddenly turning darker at Hatch's mention. Unlike Serene, that man certainly was not popular among the employees.

"Well, actually I have just been in Paul Serene's office" Sofia said matter-of-factly.

Julia just dropped her jaws and Karin, who had been typing at her pc and sipping coffee, just sputtered it all over her keyboard.

"You've been where?!" shouted Karin, wrapping one arm around the back of her office chair.

"Paul Serene's office. You know, our CEO" replied Sofia in a mocking tone.

"No way! No one has ever been there! I guess only Hatch and Dr. Kim" said Julia, looking at Karin.

Sofia simply shrugged her shoulders and went back to her seat.

"What did he say, then?" asked Julia. Sofia was not sure she could be talking about it, but decided she could trust the two girls.

"He said something about finding a cure".

"Ah, right…" said Julia and Karin at the same time.

"You mean you know about it?" Sofia asked, shocked. She could maybe get a sneak-peak of the infamous cure Serene so desperately wanted.

"Well, yes. We and the rest of the research team have been working on it for a while, but with scarce results. We were supposed to provide a cure for the so-called "chronon syndrome", something you may get by being exposed too much and for too long to chronon radiation" said Julia.

"What are the symptoms?" asked Sofia.

"We are not that sure, actually, because we have never met a subject affected by it. But Paul Serene has, and he says it's scary stuff" answered Karin.

"Is it? He sounded really desperate to find one" continued Sofia, resting her chin on her hand.

"Maybe someone he cares about is affected by it" said Julia, who seemed to be thinking hard.

"Or maybe it's for himself! He is so mysterious!" replied Karin excited "Can you imagine? Paul Serene, the sexy knight in desperate need to be saved by his princess!"

"Get back to Earth, Karin" Julia told her friend, crossing her arms.

Sofia found herself thinking: what if Serene _was_ looking for a cure for someone he cared about? Did he have a girlfriend? She hadn't seen any ring on his finger, so she supposed he was not married. But why was she thinking about this now? Maybe a friend was affected by the syndrome, maybe a family member…

Or maybe himself.

She remembered his unfocused eyes, the suddenly unsafe atmosphere in his living-room, and her eyes widened at the realization. But maybe he was just being weird.

"Something's wrong, Sofia?" asked Julia, poking her arm.

"No, everything's fine" Sofia gave a fake smile.


	4. Chapter 3

Paul was sitting on his bed, trying to control himself. Right after Sofia had left, he had started feeling feverish, sweat rolling down his forehead and his whole body shaking uncontrollably.

It was one of the bad ones, he felt. The attacks were becoming more frequent, and he didn't know how long he could resist before he eventually gave in.

But somehow, thinking about Sofia Amaral helped him relax. He had seen it right after her interview: she would find a cure for him. She was the one.

He slowly managed to stop shaking, and took long, deep breaths to calm himself down. When the attack was over, he stood up and went to take a steamy shower.

While the hot water poured down his body, he leaned against the wall and thought: it had been hard controlling himself when she was in his living-room earlier that day. She would find out sooner or later, but Paul was not sure he was ready to tell her just yet. He was afraid to scare her away. No, he would just tell her they needed to find a cure for the sake of the research. The truth could wait a little longer.

* * *

Sofia had just come back home, taken a shower and eaten a sandwich when she remembered she was supposed to receive an e-mail by Paul Serene regarding the chronon syndrome. Julia and Karin had already told her what she needed to know, but Sofia was curious to read what Serene would tell her.

She took her laptop and checked her e-mail box. Nothing.

Could he have forgotten? But then she remembered that she had been assigned a new e-mail address, specifically for work duty, and signed in with that instead.

And there it was, an e-mail from the CEO himself.

 ** _From:_** _Paul Serene_

 ** _To_** _: Sofia Amaral_

 _1 Attachment_

 ** _Chronon Syndrome_**

 _Sofia,_

 _As mentioned, you will find more information regarding the cure to the chronon syndrome I was telling you about earlier today in the attached document._

 _Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me or Dr. Kim._

 _I wish you a good evening._

 _Best regards,_

 _Paul Serene, CEO_

It was a simple message, short and relatively formal. Sofia didn't know why she was expecting anything different than that. She sighed and downloaded the attachment.

The file contained very detailed information about the chronon syndrome: just like Julia and Karin had told her, any subject being exposed for too long to strong chronon radiation could start showing symptoms of the chronon syndrome. Sofia kept reading, but abruptly stopped when she realized the document was incomplete:

 _"…At early stages, symptoms include strong sense of deja-vù, confusion, fever and nausea._

 _As the disorder progresses, symptoms worsen, and the subject will [CONFIDENTIAL. CONTACT DR. KIM OR P. SERENE]"_

"What the hell is this all about?" wondered Sofia.

* * *

The next morning, Sofia received her badge to access the laboratory from the receptionist. She decided to test it straight away, and headed to the laboratory.

There was only one more person already at work, a young girl names Fiona Miller.

"'morning, Sofia" she said jovially "Sorry about yesterday, it's not always easy to stop and converse with colleagues when you are so deep into research".

"That's fine, I understand perfectly well" replied Sofia.

"Are you ready to finally get some practice?" Fiona asked "Dr. Kim is waiting for you in the other laboratory, where we keep the chronon particles. He said he will be showing you our progress so far, so you can help us find a cure".

Sofia was actually waiting to meet Dr. Kim or Serene again, so she could ask specifically what the confidential information was about.

With a "Good luck!" Fiona went back to work, and Sofia headed to the restricted section. She was welcomed by Dr. Kim's kind face just like the day before.

"There you are, Sofia! I hope your first day at work was good. Let's make your second even better! I know it's a lot to take in, but I will try to explain things as simply as I can".

"Sir, I spoke to Mr. Serene yesterday, and he has told me about the cure to the chronon syndrome we are supposed to find. He has sent me a file via e-mail, but the part about the specific symptoms at later stages are confidential and I could not access it" said Sofia.

"Ah yes. Let us see. I suppose you are now familiar with what happened to Ground Zero: Dr. Joyce's device, which was supposed to stop the fracture, was damaged and a huge burst of chronon particles was unleashed. That area is known as Red Zone, and only few, selected people can access it, prior an authorization and only with a highly-advanced protection equipment. However, some _unfortunate_ souls have stepped into the Red Zone, where time is highly unstable, later showing the first signs of the syndrome. They all start the same way: nausea, confusion, sense of deja-vù, but things get much worse and scarier with time passing by. Depending on the level of radiations, the victim will become uncontrollable, aggressive and exponentially dangerous provoked by the immeasurable pain felt by the subject. They can develop… _powers_ , which may be life-threatening for everyone around them. Loss of control and incredible abilities do not get along well, Sofia. These people will be able to manipulate time itself, and will start creating multiple versions of themselves within a distorted field, making them extremely hard to eliminate".

Sofia listened very carefully, and once again found it impossible to believe.

"Do we…ehm…have any evidence?" she asked, sounding more skeptic than she had intended.

"You don't want to meet the evidence, Sofia, trust me. These…things, we call them _shifters_ , are extremely dangerous to approach. When they lose their control, they will start attacking whatever moves in their space. They can luckily exist only in time stutters, and every movement disturbs them, leading them to attack" replied Dr. Kim, and shuddered "I do hope I will never come across one".

"Stutters?" Sofia inquired again "what are they?"

"When time temporarely freezes, we experience a stutter. The world and its inhabitants stop whatever they were doing until time starts again. We don't notice anything when it happens, but those who are unfortunate enough to be able to move in stutters do" Dr. Kim answered patiently.

"You said that the victims will develop powers?" asked Sofia.

"Yes, they do indeed! The power to manipulate time, creating shields or even teleporting. Unbelievable, isn't it? But I suppose that is what you get for messing up with time" answered Dr. Kim.

"I suppose, yes" continued Sofia, still unsure whether to believe all this or not. She had heard stories about chronon and Ground Zero, but she wouldn't believe any of it until she had seen it with her own eyes.

* * *

Sofia left the laboratory at 5 PM. She had been instructed on how to extract and analyze chronon particles, so they could collect enough to find a cure. But they all found it very difficult to come up with a remedy when none of them had ever even seen a real subject affected by the disorder. Furthermore, the chronon particles were quite rare to find, and a special team of Monarch soldiers had to be sent every day to Ground Zero to try and collect as many as possible to complete the Lifeboat Protocol. She had heard that Serene had predicted the end of time by 2022, and she had no idea why they were all acting as if they only had a week before the catastrophe would end. Neither did she know how Paul Serene had predicted the end of time by that specific year.

She was starting to think this whole Monarch project was just a waste of time, and that Paul Serene was just a weird rich man with the mania of "saving the world from a possible apocalypse".

What proof did she have that time was ending? What proof did she have that these shifters existed? All the others seemed to believe every single word Serene said, based on something he had supposedly seen.

But she also had to admit that working with Dr. Kim was teaching her a lot of new things, and the pay was good.

She would pander the others as long as she could pay the rent.

She was now walking automatically to her car, parked at the farthest edge of the lot. She was deep in thought again, and didn't notice the truck driving towards her.

Freddy, the driver, had just dropped his phone, and bent down to retrieve it while still driving.

Sofia saw the lights when it was too late to move away, and just stood there, staring as the truck came closer and closer...

She instinctively closed her eyes, preparing for the impact. But it never arrived.

She just felt a wave of pure energy touch her, then she heard a loud noise and she screamed, her hands pressed against her ears.

When it was quiet again, she slowly opened her eyes, and the first thing she saw was Paul Serene standing in front of her, giving his back to her. The truck was laying on one side, and Freddy was shouting and struggling to get out from the broken windshield.

"Wh-what happened?" Sofia stuttered, shaking in fear.

"Are you alright?" Serene asked, turning around to face her and grabbing the sides of her arms.

Sofia simply nodded, without stopping shaking.

"Are you sure you are not hurt? Do you need the hospital?" Paul insisted, sounding urgent.

"I-I'm fine. Just shaken, I guess" Sofia replied, more firmly this time.

Paul nodded and then went to the truck.

"Protect your face!" he commanded to Freddy, and then kicked the windshield hard, so it broke entirely, allowing the driver to freely come out of the truck.

"Thanks, Mr. Serene, that was…what happened, actually?" Freddy asked confused "I remember I was driving, and then you suddenly stood there and…"

"Keep your eyes on the road next time, you dumb idiot!" interrupted Paul, and he sounded genuinely angry.

After Freddy had apologized many times and come back inside the building to have his superficial wounds medicated, Paul escorted Sofia to the 49th floor and back to his office once again. She followed mutely, allowing him to sit her on the sofa and preparing a cup of tea.

"Here, drink" he said, passing her the mug.

She grabbed it automatically, but couldn't get to drink it.

"I haven't poisoned it, I promise" he said with a smirk.

"What happened just now? I don't remember seeing you anywhere nearby, and yet there you stood, in front of me. And what happened to the truck?" Sofia asked.

Paul took several seconds before answering.

"I suppose you have read the file I sent you yesterday, and you must surely have talked to Dr. Kim about the effects of the chronon syndrome. You are an intelligent woman, Sofia. You don't need me to tell you who the cure is for".

"It's for you" she said, looking straight into his eyes "You are a Shifter".

"Not exactly" he replied "Not _yet_ , at least. It takes longer than a few months to become a Shifter -who, by the way, exclusively exist in stutters-, though I have been hit by a huge amount of radiations this July, when Jack and I created Ground Zero".

" _You_ created Ground Zero?!" Sofia asked in shock.

"We didn't mean to. I _had_ to get the CFR, I needed it, and Jack…he and that girl had taken it. I _had_ to stop them!" Paul answered.

"But…If you are not a Shifter… _what_ are you?" Sofia asked, sounding brusquer than she had intended. Paul seemed taken aback by her choice of words, but didn't react.

"I…I am just me. Just with superpowers" he answered, giving her an uncertain smile.

She didn't smile back though, and he sighed.

"Listen, I didn't want you to find out like this. I knew I had to tell you someday, but not now and not in these circumstances. I am sorry for being what I am" Paul said.

He fell silent, and Sofia suddenly processed what had happened: he was just a victim. He hadn't asked to be like that. And he had just saved her life.

"I am sorry for addressing you that way. You…you just saved my life, I should be thankful. And here I am, questioning you in disrespectful ways. You _are_ my boss after all!" Sofia said, and felt a bit ashamed.

Paul, however, just smiled. "Thank you, Sofia. I knew I could count on you".

"It's quite alright. At least now I have my evidence, Mr. Serene" she replied.

"Call me Paul" he said.

Sofia finally took a sip of her tea, and she and Paul kept chatting about trivial things. It felt oddly natural and easy for two people that had known each other for just a few days.

When she left his office two hours later, something had changed between them: a bond of trust had been established and, between the accident and their chatting in his apartment, Sofia found herself addressing him as Paul and no more as Mr. Serene.

* * *

 **My gosh! I just realized how incredibly similar to the car scene in Twilight this looks like! In my defence, I can say I barely even saw the movie and I had never seen it when I wrote this fanfic. Needless to say, it was never my intention to plagiarize :D**

 **Oh, and I am quite sorry I didn't add the full e-mail addresses. I tried typing them with space, no special characters and any other combination, but the website won't allow anything that even remotely resembles a link and automatically removes them (even if it is a fake one). Sowwie :D**


	5. Chapter 4

Sofia spent most of her days in the laboratory with Dr. Kim and the rest of the research team. The days went by fast, with them working non-stop to collect as many chronon particles as possible in order to have enough for the Lifeboat Protocol. Sofia and Dr. Kim worked even harder than the others to find a cure to Paul's syndrome. Sofia had not told anyone, just as she had promised Paul in his office right after the accident. She and dr. Kim (though Sofia suspected Hatch knew too) were the only ones aware of what Paul really was.

She didn't see him as much as she had used to in the beginning, being as busy as she was, locked up in the laboratory for most part of her day, and they only exchanged some brief e-mails updating each other on the latest news and progresses.

For a couple of weeks, Sofia's life had turned into "wake up, eat breakfast, go to work, work, come back home, shower and sleep", and the only social interactions she had was with dr. Kim, Julia, Karin and the research team. But even her conversations with Julia and Karin were becoming less frequent, with Martin Hatch keeping a close watch on their work to make sure they would keep up with the schedule.

"I don't understand why he stresses so much" burst out Karin one afternoon at lunch break "We still have 22 years to go!"

"Well, given the fact that chronon particles are becoming rarer and rarer to find, and considering that only few, well-trained soldiers can access Ground Zero, not counting the ones that actually need a long break to avoid a serious exposure to radiations, I suppose he's kinda right" replied Julia, elegantly taking a bite of her tuna sandwich.

"Well, remember that these soldiers you're talking about consume a huge amount of particles by using their harnesses" said Karin.

"Good point" smiled Sofia, who had just taken her seat by her friends while carrying a food tray.

"So, how is Paul Serene's girlfriend doing?" teased Karin.

"I am not his girlfriend, Karin, don't be so childish now" blushed Sofia.

"You're redder than the tomato sauce in Hatch's tortellini" joked Julia, and the three girls giggled at the sight of Martin Hatch stabbing his tortellini with a fork. Sometimes, they simply loved eating at the cafeteria just to make fun of the colleagues they didn't like too much: Hatch was their favorite target.

"I have spoken to Paul only three times in my life" Sofia tried to justify herself, and then her expression turned into one of pure horror. Her two friends had just exchanged an exultant look.

"So, it's _Paul_ now. Things are definitely getting interesting between you too" said Karin, hitting her in the side with her elbow.

"Don't be silly! We are just colleagues that happen to be working on the same project. He said I was the best candidate to find a cure, together with dr. Kim, and allowed me to call him by his first name. That does _not_ mean we are together" said Sofia, but she was still blushing.

"So you are just hired and, all of a sudden, he thinks you are the most qualified one for the job all of us have been working on for years" continued Karin. Her tone was serious, but Sofia could see no trace of anger or jealousy in her eyes, and she was relieved that the girls had not felt offended by her words.

"I'm not sure… I mean, I have given my whole life to the research of chronon, ever since its discovery. I just love doing this job. And anyway, I haven't seen Paul in over a week now, unless you count the short e-mails we send each other. And I assure you, they are purely formal and work-related". Sofia suddenly realized she missed sitting in Paul Serene's office, talking about trivial things and sipping his overly-sweetened tea.

"Well, you will surely see him at the party" said Julia, who was the only one actually eating her food.

"The party?" asked Sofia "What party?"

"It's a Monarch's tradition. The usual Christmas party Serene throws in every year. It's actually a lot of fun, and something cool always happens. Of course, there will be his annual speech, and work-related stuff, but overall it's enjoyable" told Julia.

"Swo youw cowming?" asked Karin, almost choking on her turkey salad.

"Excuse me? Oh, if I'm coming? Are you two going?" Sofia asked, and the girls nodded enthusiastically.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world. The food is excellent, and Serene always looks hotter in his dark suit" answered Karin dreamily. Julia rolled her eyes and smiled at Sofia "You should come, really".

"I suppose I will, then" Sofia smiled back, and finally took a bite of her chicken.

* * *

Three days before the party, which had been scheduled for the 22nd of December, Sofia received her official invitation via e-mail by Paul Serene himself.

It was not a specially written invitation: Sofia imagined he had simply printed one copy and sent it to all the employees in the system.

She suddenly felt a lot of distance between them, as if a long-lasted friendship had been ignored for far too long and eventually ended. She still couldn't understand why she cared so much. Yes, her CEO had allowed her to call him by his first name, and had even saved her life ones, but anyone would have in his shoes. And other than that, he had never been explicit to her about anything. Their relationship was purely work-related.

Nor could she understand why she found herself thinking of Paul so often. It was as if his presence never left her, his face always resurfacing in the back of her mind. She kept remembering their first encounter, the time he had saved her and how angry he had looked, and then that time when he had looked so mysteriously dangerous…

She told herself it was because of the peculiarity of their situation: she had never heard of, let alone met, someone like him before, a man with powers she had only seen in movies, and affected by a draining disease which could potentially lead him to become a wild, uncontrolled beast. She felt as if it was her duty to help him become a normal person again. It was her duty to cure him to save the rest of the world from a menace too powerful. He would become unstoppable, but she would find a way to prevent it.

Yes, it was the only reason why she thought of him so often. Wasn't it?

* * *

Everyone was allowed to leave from work at 13 PM to get ready for the party that evening, and all the employees could be seen happily chatting to each other.

Sofia stepped out of Monarch Tower and looked up at the sky. The sun shone bright again, but snow had been falling around the property. The air was cool and crisp, and the snow under her boots was fresh and crunchy.

The whole city was dressed in holiday decorations, the shops were open until late and people could be seen running back and forth, buying Christmas presents and food for their families and friends.

The atmosphere was so joyous that everyone became infected by it: no one looked grumpy or distressed. It was the magic of Christmas, and Sofia felt truly happy.

She decided to take the bus home that day, taking advantage of the fact that the sun was up again. Once there, she started to wonder how she would be dressed for the party. She went to her small bedroom and opened the wardrobe, but didn't find much. She was not exactly a party girl, and all she had was professional-looking outfits.

She was even unsure of what dress code would be required at the party that evening. Karin had said that Paul would be wearing his traditional dark suit, which meant it would be an elegant party.

Sofia kept looking, thinking at the best way to highlight her body and her face, but then wondered why.

Why would she need to look stunning? She was not on a date, she didn't have a knight for the evening, and she would probably be spending it together with Karin, Julia and chatting with someone she had exchanged some words with at work, maybe Dr. Kim or Fiona. She definitely wasn't going to the party to find a date. She didn't have time for that, anyway.

But another part of her kept suggesting her to give her best, to _impress_ someone.

Sofia eventually decided it was time to buy some new clothes.

* * *

At 19 PM sharp, the gates to the party opened, and the employees standing in line started showing their invitations to the two large bodyguards at the entrance.

Sofia was standing behind a pale woman dressed in white, which made her look even more like a ghost, when she heard her name being called.

"Sofia! You came!"

Sofia turned around to see Karin run towards her, dressed in a long cocktail dress. She had made her hair curly and looked prettier than ever.

"Hi, Karin!" greeted Sofia with a smile "You look good!"

"Well, look who's talking" Karin actually stopped and eyed her for several seconds "Wow!" she simply said.

Sofia couldn't do much with her hair, which was a usual straight bob, but had bought a dark blue dress, halfway elegant and businesslike: she didn't feel very comfortable with the dizzy neckline sported by the dress, but it ended with tight trousers attached to the rest of the dress in a one-piece set and flashing a black belt around her waist.

"You look stunning, Sofia" said her other approaching friend, Julia, who had simply opted for a classic white button-up blouse and black skirt with matching stockings.

"Hey, wait in line like everyone else!" shouted a man around 25 behind them "And stop using the "that's my friend"-excuse", thank you very much".

"Good evening to you too, Charlie!" retorted Karin, then went back to Sofia rolling her eyes "That's Charlie Wincott, our IT expert. He thinks he owns all of Monarch Solution just because he can do some tricks with his keyboard. He actually doesn't have any social life, surprising how he's even here".

"Hey, I heard you!" Charlie shouted again, attracting the attention of one of the gorillas monitoring the queue "Alright, alright! But they were trying to skip the line!"

"We were NOT skipping the line!" Karin shouted back.

"Neeeext!" called the guard at the entrance even louder, and Sofia pushed her friend to the front.

"That-annoying-little- _asshole_!" spelled Karin with anger "One of these day…!"

"Now, that language doesn't suit a young lady like yourself, Miss Ashford" said Martin Hatch, who had seemingly come out of thin air.

Karin was so embarrassed she couldn't find any word to say, but Hatch didn't stop long. He just gave the three girls an indecipherable look and proceeded to the auditorium, which was packed with people.

"How come that man always shows up at the most inopportune moments?" asked Karin, who had apparently remembered how to speak again.

"Doesn't matter, let's just go to the auditorium before they take all the seats" said Julia, leading her friends to the spot Martin Hatch had gone to.

After waiting for what seemed like forever sitting in their seats, the podium started to get busy, and Sofia understood Paul would soon make his entrance.

She looked behind her back and widened her eyes in surprise at the sight of the huge amount of people, either sitting or standing there, to watch Serene's speech. It seemed like all of Monarch had come to participate.

10 minutes later, Hatch stepped onto the podium and spoke a few words before introducing the CEO himself. Paul then appeared onto the stage and approached his audience.

"Good evening, my friends! Welcome to the 11th edition of our traditional Christmas party. I hope I have not kept you waiting too long".

Sofia kept her eyes on him: it was the first time she saw him after many weeks and she could tell something was wrong. He looked paler, and kept a solid grip on the stand as if to find support.

He discussed about a great deal of things, of Monarch's future projects, of their success about creating an advanced technology which would revolutionize the world in the near future.

But Sofia barely registered what he was saying. She noticed he had started sweating and the tone of his voice sounded somewhat forced. Twenty-five minutes after, Paul thanked his audience, which apparently had not noticed a single thing, and walked away, leaving the stage to Hatch once again.

"Did you see that?" asked Sofia, turning to her friends. Julia gave her a serious look and nodded, but Karin seemed lost.

"See what?" she asked.

"Serene. He looked sick" answered Julia.

"Maybe he got a cold. It _is_ freezing outside here!" continued Karin, wrapping her arms around herself.

Sofia didn't say anything. She knew exactly what was wrong with Paul Serene, but had promised not to tell anyone, so she simply dismissed the thing with a "Yeah, maybe".

* * *

Overall, Sofia had enjoyed the party: she had the chance to exchange a few words with some interesting people, eat good food and even have a laugh or two at the sight of Charlie Wincott following Fiona Miller like a lost puppy wherever she went.

But she had to admit she was also disappointed. She had hoped she could talk to Paul Serene in private, like they used to. It felt like so long ago, now.

It was with a heavy heart she made for the exit when the party was declared finished, the sight of Paul looking so sick still fresh in her memory.

She had no idea that, from a window in the opposite building, Paul Serene himself was staring at her.

She looked beautiful indeed, but he had other things to think about. It had been extremely difficult to keep focused on his annual speech while the monster inside was trying its best to take over. It took all of his self-control not to surrender. He desperately needed a cure, and Sofia Amaral was the only one who could help him.

He remembered the vision he had had after hiring her: she would find the secret behind the syndrome. She would create a countermeasure.

But his anger was starting to take over: _when_ would she do it? _When_ would he be free from the pain?

He was shaking violently, sweat pouring from his forehead and running down his spine.

He took long, deep breaths to calm down. The pain was becoming excruciating.

He needed something, _anything_ that could ease the pain he was feeling. His mind couldn't think rationally anymore, he desperately needed fresh air.

He staggered outside, the auditorium now empty, and took in deep intakes of the cool winter air. He felt the drops of sweat become ice cold, and he was now shivering because of the chilly temperatures outside, his black shirt too thin to keep him warm.

When he had finally taken control over himself again, he closed his eyes and thought. He needed to be patient: Sofia would eventually come to him with the news he had been waiting for, and she would be greatly rewarded for that.

His vision had shown him the girl coming to him with a cure, and that meant he would keep control for long enough to experiment it on himself.

The time would come, and patience was one of his biggest virtues.


	6. Chapter 5

Sofia came back to work the 3rd of January, at 8 AM sharp. She had spent her Christmas holidays at her parents' in New York, and was still feeling like her stomach would soon burst with all the food she had been eating the past two weeks.

She had received some nice presents from family and friends, who all congratulated her with her new job. Working at Monarch Solutions was considered a privilege, and her mum in particular loved to go out with her and find a way to mention Sofia's career in any possible conversation. Her neighbors started avoiding them.

Sofia had not told them everything, of course. She was not sure even her mother could believe that her boss was able to conjure shields made of chronon particles, or travel into time, so she decided to simply tell them she researched time particles and how they affected their daily lives. Her parents were not scientists, so her simple explanation was more than enough for them.

It had been nice to visit her family in New York and see old friends again, but Sofia was happy when she came back to her small but cozy apartment in Riverport.

So the 3rd of January, she was among the very few smiling employees. Most of them probably thought their Christmas break had been too short.

When she arrived to her office, she noticed a box on her desk. She was not the only one who had received it, and everyone was analyzing the content.

"Donuts!" shouted Karin, tossing her bag to the floor to open her box excitingly. She stuffed her hand inside which emerged with a large, pink donut. "Yummy!"

"You are as fine as a gorilla scratching their butt, Karin" smirked Julia, who had just entered the room "Sofia, how are you? Did you have nice holidays?"

"Fine and yes, thank you! How are you girls doing?" replied Sofia, hugging Julia.

"I am doing awesome now, thanks to these donuts!" answered Karin, still chewing on a mouthful.

"I wonder who bought donuts for everyone" wondered Sofia.

"Well, the answer is simple. It must have been Serene, no? Sometimes he rewards his employees, when he is in a particularly good mood" answered Julia, taking a seat and opening her own box.

"Well, that's kind of him" said Sofia, who proceeded to take her box and went to the door.

"Starting early today?" asked Julia.

"Yes, I promised Dr. Kim we could meet up at the laboratory and start immediately. New year, new possibilities. Who knows, maybe today is the day we will find a cure to chronon syndrome!" exclaimed Sofia enthusiastically, and then disappeared behind the glass door.

"Optimistic" said Karin with a smirk.

* * *

At lunch time, Sofia finally stepped out of the laboratory and headed to the cafeteria. She was working as hard as she could on the cure, but with very little results. Dr. Kim was just as confused and frustrated as she was. Curing Paul might prove impossible, with devastating consequences.

They had tried analyzing the chronon particles, how they interacted with each other depending on their density and the field they were contained into. Dr. Kim had pointed out that, when a huge amount of particles came in contact with each other, a burst of energy radiated, sometimes so intense that any individual who was to be hit would never come out the same. Luckily, these were simple hypothesis, based on Paul Serene's future experience and their own studies.

They had been studying the possible consequences of the radiations on human beings but, not having a real subject, their efforts proved fruitless: all their experiments were pure suppositions.

Sofia walked to the cafeteria alone when she suddenly got a glimpse of Paul standing by a door and typing the access code on the control panel.

She froze there, looking at him and a sudden realization struck her.

"Paul!" she called, and Serene turned around to look at the person who had spoken his name.

"Ah, good day Sofia. How are you doing today?" he asked politely.

"You know Dr. Kim and I are not really making any progress, right?" she asked him, ignoring his question. He stared at her for a moment, his expression unreadable. "Yes, I do" he said after a while, perfectly serious.

"Well, I don't think we will ever get anywhere without a subject" she continued.

He gave her a questioning look, then he raised his eyebrows in realization.

"We should have done it from the beginning. We could have spared so much time. Of course, I am not promising anything, but…" said Sofia, but he interrupted her. "When?"

"Now?"

"Lead the way".

* * *

All the other researchers had been sent home earlier with the excuse of sterilizing their stations, and Paul could finally sit on his chair to help as much as he could in the research.

Dr. Kim and Sofia were the only ones left, bustling about to retrieve syringes and other medical equipment. None of them was a doctor, but they could use some of the very basic tools.

They took several samples of his blood, checked his pressure and monitored his conditions in general.

He looked fine, but they would need to analyze the blood samples more specifically, and estimate how much chronon he had in his body.

Sofia told him the process could take up to three days.

Paul simply nodded and thanked them, his left hand pressed on a plaster on his right arm to stanch the blood.

Sofia was already gathering his blood samples to test them, but stopped when she felt his gaze upon her. She looked at him and smiled encouragingly. He couldn't help but smile back, then lifted one hand to say goodbye and left.

"Yours was a brilliant idea, Sofia" Dr. Kim told her "I am sure we will sort things out for Paul".

"I think so too" she replied, while labeling the blood samples and sending them to the next room to analyze them.

* * *

Sofia was spending more and more time in the laboratory together with Dr. Kim, while the other researchers worked at their stations to gather chronon particles and study the CFR.

Sofia felt they were all working well together, like a real team, and she finally felt positive and with a purpose.

She also got the chance to see Paul almost every day, get more blood samples, monitor his conditions, update him on their progresses. He looked pale and sick, but never showed his frustration. Instead, he would always be happy to cooperate and help them, and thanked them each time he left the laboratory.

His first blood samples were ready after four days, and she and Dr. Kim noticed with shock the level of radiations contained in his body, which had also been the cause of the analyzing process taking so long.

"No wonder he is what he is. The levels of radiations are above the limits acceptable. His conditions will worsen rapidly if we don't do something" said Dr. Kim, while reading out loud the reports written by Sofia.

"Yes, I know. It is worrying indeed. If he had been exposed to radiations a few seconds more, he would have become a Shifter almost immediately" replied Sofia.

"The day of the accident with the truck" continued Dr. Kim "What did he actually do?"

"I don't know. I had my eyes closed. All I know is that the truck should have killed me, it was inches away. I felt pure energy around me, and then I opened my eyes and Paul was simply standing there, and the truck meters away" answered Sofia.

"Wait here a moment, will you?" said Dr. Kim, and quickly exited the laboratory. After several minutes, he came back with Paul Serene himself.

"…and so we need to test your abilities to register the progress of your condition" Dr. Kim was explaining.

Paul smiled at Sofia, then nodded at Dr. Kim to signal him he had understood and was willing to cooperate.

"We will need a larger room, though" Paul said "maybe the military training field will do".

Sofia and Dr. Kim followed Paul throughout the building, until he led them to a room in the basement. It was large and spacious, but Sofia didn't understand why he couldn't use their laboratory.

"What exactly do you want me to do?" asked Paul, opening his arms as if speaking to an audience.

"What exactly _can_ you do?" asked back Dr. Kim.

"Many things" Paul answered calmly.

He then disappeared and reappeared at the upper floor above them, staring at them from the balcony.

Sofia felt her jaws drop automatically.

"I can defend myself" and he conjured a shield which surrounded him, "and attack".

He concentrated for a moment, then shot his arms forward and, with a loud "bang", the balcony exploded and fell downstairs, missing Sofia and Dr. Kim by inches.

Paul teleported beside them and, concentrating one more time, the balcony came back to its place as if nothing had ever happened.

Without any warning, he proceeded to take Sofia's arm and literally threw her forward, her body lifting and flying straight to the opposite wall at high speed. Sofia screamed and closed her eyes, once again waiting for an impact that never came.

She opened her eyes and found herself frozen in place, hovering over the floor while Paul calmly walked towards her, took her hand and graciously helped her back on her feet.

"Sorry about that" he apologized with a smirk.

"Now I understand why we needed a large room" Sofia retorted breathlessly.

"We can say with certainty that the levels of radiation in your body are so high you have developed amazing powers, but your abilities match exactly the ones possessed by Jack Joyce, and he is not suffering from your condition" said Dr. Kim as he pondered.

"Jack has been exposed to the chronon only once. I have been hit by it twice. Besides, this is not all I can do. I possess a skill Jack doesn't" retorted Paul.

Dr. Kim and Sofia both stared at him, and he sighed.

"I… I see things. Before they happen. I actually see two possible scenarios, and the consequences of my choice. I can take a specific path and know exactly what would happen" explained Paul.

"How is that even possible?" Sofia whispered.

"How is me teleporting possible?" answered back Paul with a bitter smile.

No one said anything for a while, deep in thought.

"We should get going now. We have the data we needed, and you should rest a bit, Paul" Dr. Kim finally suggested, breaking the silence.

They all walked back to the laboratory, and Paul proceeded to the ninth level.

"We have a lot of work to do, Sofia" announced Dr. Kim, and he sounded worried, pacing back and forth.

"What's wrong?" Sofia asked him. She didn't like the way Dr. Kim's voice had sounded.

"I fear Paul doesn't have much time left. You see, I have studied chronon and his case for years now. Based on his description of the Shifters he has seen, and comparing their abilities and behavior with Paul's, it is quite clear he is turning into one". Sofia just stared at him, without knowing what to say or do.

"I think it's time to test our knowledge. I have a plan: we can try extracting chronon from Paul's system, and contain the particles we can recycle and use for the Lifeboat Protocol. His body is so saturated that it will keep generating more, but maybe, if we kept extracting, it will eventually become drained" Dr. Kim proposed.

Sofia thought about it for a minute. She was not sure it could work, and the process of extracting particles from a human body could be painful but, with a lack of a better plan, she nodded and hoped for the best.


	7. Chapter 6

Paul was sitting in his office, lazily checking his e-mail inbox. He had dozens of e-mails to read and reply to, but didn't feel like doing any of it. He rested his chin on his palm, browsing random Internet pages.

He had had a horrible night, barely sleeping after experiencing another attack. They were becoming so frequent and lasted so long, he was surprised he could still get up and walk out of his office without killing anyone in frustration.

A knock on the door brought him back to his office, and he answered in a lazy voice. "Come in".

Martin Hatch stepped inside, and Paul was almost tempted to roll his eyes.

"' morning" said Hatch, taking a seat without waiting for Paul to offer him one.

"Mh-mhm" mumbled Paul, his chin still in his palm.

"Having a bad day?" asked Hatch, putting his papers on Paul's already overcrowded desk.

"Mh-mhm".

Hatch cleared Paul's desk from the chaos of files scattered all around, and gave him a disapproving look.

"These are the latest reports on the CFR and the Lifeboat Protocol from the research team. I have also scheduled a new training program for our soldiers, since you are too lazy to do so. If we had waited another week, they would have revolted against us. All I need now, is a signature here" said Hatch, pointing at the bottom of the paper where Paul was supposed to sign.

Paul did as he was told, scrabbling his initials on the file and returning it to Hatch.

"Will you ever finish those?" asked Hatch, looking at the scattered papers on his desk.

"Maybe. Eventually" answered Paul, and he suddenly felt very tired "thank you, Martin".

Hatch understood that was Paul's way to dismiss him, and he left his office.

Paul sighed heavily and went downstairs to make himself a cup of coffee. His phone ringed at the same time.

Paul actually rolled his eyes this time, and went back upstairs where he had left the phone to answer the call. It was Dr. Kim.

"Good morning, Paul. Hope you are doing fine today. I was wondering if you could meet me and Sofia at the laboratory, whenever you have some time" he started.

"Hi Henry, of course I can. I will be right there" Paul replied, suddenly not feeling all that lazy anymore.

"Excellent! See you soon, then" and Dr. Kim ended the call.

Paul walked straight to the door and took the elevator to the laboratory. On his way there, a young girl purposely bumped into him and dropped her stack of papers.

"Oh, I am so sorry, Mr. Serene!" she said, her high-pitched voice sweet as honey. Paul kneeled down to help her gather her papers and handed them to her with a forced smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Serene! You are so kind!" chirped the girl, and giggled.

Paul was used to some of his female employees chasing after him and trying to make him notice them, and was not sure what to feel about it.

"You're quite welcome, Miss…ehm"

"Just call me Laura, Mr. Serene" the girl said seductively.

"Right. Laura" Paul said, and felt truly awkward with the girl flapping her long eyelashes at him.

"I…ehm, have to go" Paul said, and left the girl still standing there, dreamily staring at him.

Paul arrived at the laboratory, where Dr. Kim and Sofia were waiting for him by a weird-looking machine. It had a chair in the middle, with straps for the hands and feet and a huge processing generator in the back. Paul thought it reminded him terribly of a torture machine.

He hesitantly approached the two scientists, who looked as worried as him.

"Paul, I am glad you could make it this fast" Dr. Kim greeted with a nervous smile.

"What's this?" asked Paul, fixing his gaze upon the machine, which took almost all the space in the large laboratory. He had also noticed the rest of the team was not there.

"Well, this is something I have been working on for a while, actually. But I have been hesitant, Paul. It is an experimental machine I was originally planning to use to extract larger amounts of chronon particles from Ground Zero. Today, I would like to test it on you, if you agree" he explained.

"How does it work?" Paul tried to sound calm and relaxed.

"You sit on it, we start it, it extracts the chronon particles present in your body which we can recycle and use to power the Lifeboat Protocol and our soldier's harnesses" Dr. Kim explained.

"I see. And what about the straps?" asked Paul.

"Well, the process is not exactly pleasant" Dr. Kim answered and Paul nodded quietly.

"I see" he said slowly "we can try".

He then proceeded to sit on the chair, and Sofia helped him with the straps, which were tightened around his wrists and ankles.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Paul?" she whispered in his ear. He nodded and gave her a reassuring smile.

"I'm a tough one" he joked, and for a moment her worried expression faltered, and the corner of her lips turned upwards.

"Whenever you are ready, Paul!" shouted Dr. Kim from the other side of a glass window. Sofia hurried to the other room, to assist her senior colleague.

Paul nodded firmly to indicate he was ready, and Dr. Kim activated the machine.

The lights in Paul's room went out, and a sound of a power unit charging up resonated throughout the place.

Paul sat in his chair, waiting and looking straight into Sofia's worried eyes.

And, all of a sudden, the only thing Paul felt was pain. He had been in worse situations though, and gritted his teeth to prevent himself from screaming.

He held a tight grip on the sides of the chair and started shaking hard, while the feeling of being drained overcame him. Sweat began pouring from his forehead, and he shut his eyes tight.

The pain became more and more intense, as chronon particles flew from his body to the container behind him, and Paul started to groan from pain and jolted as a particularly intense wave hit him.

After what seemed like an eternity, Dr. Kim shut down the machine, and the lights came back on.

Paul had no more energies left, and just sat there, his hands dangling and his head bent down, while drops of sweat fell from his forehead.

Both Dr. Kim and Sofia came rushing to him and checked on his conditions.

"How are you feeling?" asked Dr. Kim, his voice filled with worry.

Paul didn't even have the strength to reply, and resolved to simply nod.

"You are definitely not fine, maybe you need the hosp…" Sofia started, but Paul shook his head and tried to speak reassuring words, but they never came out of his mouth. He suddenly felt very dizzy.

With the help of Dr. Kim and Sofia, he stood up, walked a few, uncertain steps and then fell on his knees, with both his hands on the floor.

"Paul!" shouted Henry and Sofia at the same time, both rushing by his side to sustain him.

Sofia had just one second to realize Paul's eyes had unfocused, just like that evening in his office, his face death white and his whole body shaking hard, before she grabbed Dr. Kim's arm and dragged him away from Paul and into the adjacent room, shutting the door behind them.

"What?" Dr. Kim asked in confusion.

Sofia never go to answer, because Paul suddenly opened his arms and screamed his lungs out, a burst of energy so powerful coming out of his body that everything around him was literally thrown in the air by an invisible force and froze in time and space, hovering over the room.

Then all was silent again. Paul lied on the floor, motionless. The objects that had been hit by the wave burst were still floating in the air as if in slow-motion.

Dr. Kim and Sofia stood there for a while, staring in horror, before resolving to open the door and come back to Paul.

He had passed out.

* * *

Paul woke up in a bed in the Tower's infirmary. He opened his eyes slowly, and adjusted them to the sun rays that hit his face from the window across his bed.

"Henry, he's awake!" he heard Sofia say. Then footsteps and two shadows were hovering over him.

"Paul, how are you feeling?" asked Dr. Kim.

"Better" Paul answered and adopted a sitting position, not without struggling.

Seeing Paul punch the pillow behind him and kick hard to do something as simple as sit in a bed made Sofia smile at the poor attempt.

"What happened?" he asked after he was satisfied with his position.

Dr. Kim and Sofia exchanged a look, then she nodded and Henry answered.

"Well, it looks like I was wrong. It is impossible to drain you from the radiations. As soon as they are gone, your body works twice as hard to replace the particles it lost. And since my machine has absorbed a huge amount in such little time, your body has reacted consequently. It ended up producing so many new particles in such a short period of time, that it couldn't contain anymore and released it".

Paul blinked several times and then looked at his hands: they were shaking.

"Your body is still saturated. It can take some time before your parameters are back to normal. Just keep an eye out: emotions like anger or even extreme happiness can release sudden and involuntary bursts of energy" Dr. Kim explained.

"Does this mean I'll have to skip sushi tonight?" Paul joked, and everyone laughed.

"Paul, I'm really sorry" Dr. Kim apologized, and he actually looked mortified.

"Don't worry about that. You were only trying to help, and we must perform experiments, even risky ones, if we want to find a cure" reassured Paul "I am fine".

"We will find it, Paul. I promise" Sofia nodded resolutely, and he smiled at her.

* * *

The only positive side of their failed experiment was the quantity of chronon particles Dr. Kim's machine had managed to absorb. They had been able to transfer their particles some floors beneath where they would be used to power more harnesses, or stored for the CFR.

Paul was released from the infirmary the day after the incident, and looked fully recovered. His body was still hyper saturated, but the parameters were quickly stabilizing.

Dr. Kim had sent his machine to Ground Zero, where it could be used to extract chronon particles more efficiently, and went back to his studies together with Sofia.

The days went by the same way, with Paul occasionally coming in to get his parameters checked and updated, and January turned into February and February into March, and then summer arrived, and most employees left for their scheduled holidays, including Dr. Kim.

Sofia had asked for two weeks off, which she thought she could use to visit her family again in New York, and she could save the remaining two weeks for another occasion.

And so, she packed her few belongings and drove to the airport, turning one last time to get a glimpse of Monarch Tower, where Paul Serene would surely be spending the hot summer days. Her heart tightened at the thought, but she kept driving nevertheless and was soon stepping onto the plane to New York.

Her parents came to pick her up at the airport and drove to their house at the outskirts of the city, the same one where she had spent all of her childhood. It was much warmer in New York than Riverport, and many of their neighbors had allowed their kids to bathe in inflatable swimming pools in the backyard.

Sofia spent her two weeks relaxing at home, occasionally going out with some childhood friends who had stayed in town, or grilling with her family. But at night, when everything was quiet, Sofia thought of him. How was he doing alone in Riverport? Would someone be able to help him if he had to lose control like that day in the laboratory? Then she remembered that Martin Hatch had declined his holidays too, and she felt a little bit better. Even if she didn't like the man, at least he would be able to help Paul. He was, after all, his most trusted person.

A part of her, however, couldn't resist and she therefore stood up and went to her pc to write an e-mail to Paul. She was very surprised, though, when she saw an unread e-mail from Fiona Miller.

FROM: Fiona Miller

TO: Sofia Amaral

SUBJECT: Serene's treatments

 _Sofia,_

 _I know you will be surprised when you'll read this e-mail, but I just wanted to tell you I have stumbled upon some files written by Dr. Kim about Serene's condition._

 _I had been suspecting for a while that something was wrong with him, and got the confirmation when I saw Dr. Kim's folder left open on his desk. I couldn't help it and I sincerely apologize. But I want you to know that Mr. Serene's secret is safe with me. I have talked to Dr. Kim about it, and he has given me his trust._

 _Mr. Serene's disorder has caught my attention, and I have been studying the case too._

 _Since I was never to have read that classified file, I will not be joining you and Dr. Kim in the research, but I wanted at least to give a small contribution._

 _I have read that you tried to extract chronon particles from Mr. Serene's hyper saturated body, but that proved fruitless and potentially dangerous. I was wondering: what about trying a different approach? You could reverse the process, for example._

 _You are a talented scientist and, with Dr. Kim's help, I am sure you will succeed._

 _I hope my suggestion will help you!_

 _See you at work,_

 _Fiona_

 _P.S. Enjoy your summer holidays!_

Sofia read the e-mail a few times before stopping to think: part of her was angry at Fiona for putting her nose into classified files she was never supposed to read, but the other part was very interested.

Fiona had suggested reversing the process. Did she mean they were supposed to inject _more_ chronon particles into Paul's body? But why? His system produced high levels of particles by its own, it definitely didn't need help with that.

Fiona definitely knew by now that Paul's system had produced so many particles after they had been drained, that it had burst with energy for days, so injecting even more only meant helping the transaction from human to Shifter form.

Fiona knew this. So why would she suggest reversing the process? Could she want Paul dead? Or did she mean something else?

Sofia thought about it for so long she eventually fell asleep. She would regret it the following day, when she was supposed to return to Riverport, but for now she was fine with it.


	8. Chapter 7

Sofia's mother had prepared a very special breakfast for her daughter on her last day home, and her father offered to drive her to the airport before going to work himself.

Sofia felt a bit nostalgic when she collected her boarding pass and proceeded to the gate, but she was looking forward to coming back to work and seeing Karin, Julia, Dr. Kim and of course Paul. She also thought about questioning Fiona regarding her e-mail, but was unsure about what she should actually ask the girl.

When the plane landed, Sofia collected her luggage and bought a sandwich before walking to her car and driving back to her own place.

Once at home, she took a shower and then sat on the sofa. She grabbed her laptop and checked the e-mails, but there was nothing new.

She didn't feel like doing anything: her body was tired but her mind kept working fast. She ended up reading Fiona's e-mail several times until she had memorized every single word, but still couldn't understand what the girl had meant.

 _Reversing the process._

So Fiona suggested injecting more chronon particles into Paul's body. This could lead to his system becoming hyper saturated again, and possibly releasing another wave of radiations.

No, this couldn't be Fiona's plan.

She had said Sofia was a talented scientist and would figure out the solution.

She eventually started scrabbling calculations and suppositions on a piece of paper, until a sudden idea struck her: they had tried extracting chronon particles, and this had led Paul's body to producing a quantity equal to the one being drained, and exactly at the same rate.

What if they injected slow amounts of particles into his system so that his body could slowly process them, and become immune to their effects? Just like a vaccine…

There was no time to lose. She stood up and grabbed her phone, then she found Dr. Kim's number and called.

"Sofia?" he answered with a croaky voice.

"Henry! I am sorry for calling this late, but I needed to talk to you" Sofia spoke urgently.

"What's up?" he asked.

"I have received an e-mail from Fiona Miller. I think that helped me figure out a solution" she replied quickly.

She proceeded to explain her idea with the help of the calculations she had written on her piece of paper. Dr. Kim let her finish, and took several seconds before speaking.

"Do you have any plans for the following weeks?"

* * *

Dr. Kim had gathered Sofia and Paul in a meeting room and explained briefly his plan: in order to test Sofia's idea, they needed a large, empty laboratory where they could work in peace, and the help of a real doctor who could monitor Paul during the process. Monarch Tower was bustling with employees day and night, and it would prove difficult to keep the rest of the research team away from their laboratory for long without arising suspicions.

Dr. Kim knew a fellow scientist in London named L. J. Mason, who had a bachelor in Medicine and Surgery and owned a laboratory in West Hampstead.

They would be staying in a hotel not too far from Dr. Mason's laboratory, and they could experiment their theories on Paul.

According to Dr. Kim, they would be staying in London for at least two weeks, and this had made Paul reluctant, with him being the CEO of a large and powerful company.

"I will see what I can do. I may ask Martin to take my place for a while, and send me reports via e-mail regularly, so I can do my homework from London"Paul pondered.

"And I need to find a way to ship all of my tools to London. It may take a while" retorted Dr. Kim.

"You can use one of our private aircrafts" Paul shrugged "if you sent them by ship, they will take months before arriving to London".

"True. Thanks Paul."

And so they all started the preparations for London: Dr. Kim took two full days to pack all of the tools they would be needing, and Paul was briefing Martin about the new responsibilities he would be having while the CEO was away, and Sofia was simply left packing her things once more.

On September the 2nd, Monarch private aircraft left with Dr. Kim's belongings to London, while Dr. Kim, Sofia and Paul would leave 24 hours after.

On the 3rd of September, at 6 PM sharp, Paul sent her an SMS on her phone.

" _Sofia, I am outside. If you are ready you can join me, so you will not need to get your car. Paul_ " the message read.

Sofia grabbed her suitcase and rushed outside, where a shiny black Lamborghini Aventador was waiting for her.

The car had attracted many of Sofia's neighbors' attention, and some of them had even come out to check it out more closely.

She walked triumphantly to the car, dragging her suitcase. Paul exited the car to help her with the luggage, which was loaded in the trunk. He was wearing a pair of grey jeans and a light blue shirt which matched his eyes. He had had his hair cut and shaved his beard, and his after-shave smelled fresh.

Sofia breathed in his scent when he approached her to retrieve her luggage, and had to literally force herself into the car and away from him.

He followed shortly after and took the driver's seat.

"So, ready for London?" he asked with a smile. She could tell he was in a very good mood.

"Yeah, are you?" she asked back, slightly breathless.

"Of course! I needed a break" he answered while starting the engine.

"Well, we are not really going on holiday. We are going to work" she retorted matter-of-factly.

"True. But we don't need to be working 24/7. My body _will_ need some rest, and while we rest we can have some fun" he said jovially.

"Like what?" she asked, smiling broadly at his enthusiastic expression.

"Why, like eating sushi!" he replied.

"You can get very good sushi here in Riverport" continued Sofia, then she frowned as she thought "are you _actually_ going to London just to eat sushi?"

"Yeah" he answered simply "And to have a ride on the London Eye, it's one of my favorite attractions. And we could visit the aquarium and the wax museum too!"

He sounded so excited that it was contagious. Sofia joined him in listing the most popular places and attractions of the capital they could visit during their breaks from work, and the ride to the Monarch's private runway, which normally took 30 minutes, felt like few seconds to both of them.

Paul parked his Aventador at the top floor of the parking lot before proceeding through security.

As they did so, still chatting jovially, Paul's phone rang: it was Dr. Kim.

Hatch had requested his immediate attention and presence at Monarch Tower, and informed him he would not be joining them to London. They were alone, but was confident that Sofia, with Dr. Mason's help, would succeed. He would keep in touch with both of them and would be available most of the times on the phone too.

Paul told him not to feel sorry but Sofia was worried: she was alone with a problem bigger than her. Would she make it without Dr. Kim's help? Was she competent enough? She could only rely on a person she had never met before, and of whom she only knew the address.

"Don't make that face!" Paul tried to cheer her up while he guided her through the airside of the building"I am confident you will make it".

"But what if I don't succeed?" she asked.

"First of all, I _know_ you will succeed. And secondly, if you don't succeed, at least you will have tried" he reassured her with a smile.

When they boarded the jet and reached their assigned seats, Paul asked her if she wanted to sit by the window instead.

"I often fly my own private jet and some helicopters, so I am used to getting the best seats. If you prefer the window seat, then be my guest" he said. Sofia accepted happily, as she never seemed to get a window seat, and they swapped places.

The cabin was large and cozy, had only a dozen of seats, both single ones or stations with two seats. All of the passenger seats had a small wooden table by their side, with some magazines and a night lamp, and every chair had a pillow and a cover. The flight would be long, so they would surely want to sleep, made easier by the lack of other people except for the crew.

Sofia sat by the window while Paul stowed both their hand luggage in the overhead lockers, then he sat beside her.

"Look, every seat is equipped with curtains in case you need some privacy" he said, pointing at a curtain drawn to one side.

"Oh" replied Sofia, but once again she didn't know what to say. She suddenly felt blood rushing to her cheeks at the thought of being so close to Paul Serene in a plane, and with the curtains drawn all around them. She then decided to observe the attractive crew members working instead, as a way to distract herself.

"It is weird flying a private jet" she announced adter taking one more look all around "nornally I get a middle seat surrounded by weirdos and screaming babies."

"You don't like kids?" asked Paul, noticing her slightly annoyed expression.

"Not really" she answered, still remembering her last flight in Economy "they are too loud for being so small."

"They can't help it" he replied with a smirk "it's their only way of communication".

"Well, I think it's an annoying way to communicate. Why can't human babies sound more like kittens or puppies when they cry? Instead, those tiny things scream so loud they can actually burst your eardrums" she retorted matter-of-factly.

Paul simply chuckled.

"You like them, don't you?" asked Sofia.

"Sofia, look at me! I am past my 40's. If I liked children so much, I would already have some. I simply tolerate their presence, as long as they don't scream for the entirety of a Riverport-London flight" he explained simply.

"Well, that's good to hear" she said without thinking.

"Why so?" he inquired.

"Uh?" Sofia turned around to face him.

"Why is it good for you that I am not that fond of children?" he asked again.

"Ah…ehm, I…" she stuttered and blushed heavily. Why the hell did she say that?

Paul simply chuckled again, and fixed his gaze upon the flight attendants showing the safety demonstration before departure.

Sofia stared at them too but wasn't really paying attention. She was still embarrassed, and couldn't understand why she had said those things.

In a blink of an eye, the aircraft accelerated on the runway and took off, and suddenly they were 40,000 feet above ground level.

It was dark outside and in the cabin. The crew had dimmed the lights so they could match the outside conditions, and the only source of light was from their mobile phones or some lamps nearby.

After ten minutes or so, the cabin crew stood up and started scattering back and forth to prepare food and drinks.

If it hadn't been for the clouds outside the window, Sofia could have sworn they were in a hotel lounge.

One of the flight attendants came to them with some warm food and a glass of red wine, and Sofia and Paul started eating and drinking exchanging only a few words about the quality of the food.

"It is a plane, so you can't really expect a 5-stars meal" said Sofia "but it is edible".

But soon the topics to continue a conversation were over, and silence fell upon them once again.

Without any warnings, Paul stood up, grabbed the curtains and drew them.

"Hope you don't mind" he said, his voice like a whisper.

"N-not at all" she replied, but for some reason her heart was racing.

She could not see him well in the dark, but felt his presence somewhere beside her. He had returned to his seat, and had probably grabbed his covers. Judging by the noise, he was punching his pillow to make it more comfortable just like he had done in the infirmary at Monarch Tower.

She was not tired at all despite being quite late, and found herself staring at the ceiling.

"Paul?" she whispered after a while. He grunted to signal he was listening. "Do you think we will make it?"

"Yes" he answered simply.

"How do you know?" she continued. She felt him turn in his seat, probably to face her.

"Because I have seen it happen, Sofia" he replied. She remained silent for several minutes, before asking again. "Are you afraid?"

Now it was his turn to take his time before speaking "No. I am not afraid of pain or death. I am only afraid of becoming the things we are trying to fight. Becoming one of _them_."

Sofia understood he was referring to the Shifters.

"What are they exactly?" she asked.

"They… I am not sure, actually. They are humans… but their bodies are distorted by radiations, and they have incredible powers. They can live during stasis, and are almost impossible to kill. Even if you managed to kill one of their forms, there will be dozens more living in other… what to call them? Dimensions?" he explained with a frown.

Sofia listened carefully and her brain automatically formulated the question "How is it possible?", but she refrained herself from actually asking it: she had learned long time ago to avoid that question when it came to time and its rules.

"They certainly sound scary. But how is it possible you have seen one when we don't have any evidence of their existence?" she asked instead.

"We don't have evidence of their existence _now_ " he answered "But we will soon. When I decided to test the time machine on myself with Jack Joyce, William's younger brother and my ex best friend, something went terribly wrong and I was sent years into the future, until the end of time. And they were there. They were everywhere, chasing after me. I came back miraculously, and since then my mission has been to save humankind from the fracture. I know it cannot be prevented, I have tried many times to go back into the past and stop William from creating the time-machine, or even myself from testing it. But whatever I do, it happens all over again. My actions to prevent the fracture would simply lead to it. So I accepted the fact that it must happen. But the future… it can still be changed. It has not happened yet, so I will dedicate my entire life to this cause".

"It almost sounds like a movie" she said with an uncertain smile.

"Maybe we can write a book when it's all over" he said amusedly.

They fell again into silence, and eventually Paul's breathing became more shallow and Sofia knew he had fallen asleep.

She laid back and stared at him, where she knew his face was: that man had been through a lot. In a second, he had lost everything: his best friend, who was now his arch-enemy, his hopes and his dreams for the future. But instead of surrendering, he had decided to keep on fighting, even with a draining disorder that could turn him into the monster he was trying so hard to prevent from ever being born.

She reached out and gently put her hand on top of his, and in that moment she decided she would never leave his side until they had fixed everything.


	9. Chapter 8

Sofia woke up with a jolt at the sudden bright light in the cabin, and the voice of the flight attendant announcing they would be landing soon. She automatically looked to her left, where Paul was sitting elegantly reading a magazine.

"Good morning" he grinned "we're landing in 20 minutes".

Sofia put her belongings back in her suitcase, and fastened her seatbelt for landing.

After parking at the gate, they stood up and collected their belongings before leaving the aircraft and walking all the way through the terminal, retrieved their checked-in luggage and took a taxi to West Hampstead. The taxi took almost an hour to drive to their hotel, but Sofia still felt tired and rested during most of the ride. Paul just sat beside her, looking at the landscape outside the window.

Sofia must have fallen asleep again, because when Paul gently poked her shoulder to signal they had arrived, the taxy was standing still outside a fancy-looking hotel.

Paul paid by his credit card and with the taxi driver's help, proceeded to the check-in counter. They got the keys, each of them their own room, and took the elevator to their assigned floor on the 5th level.

Paul's room number was 512 and Sofia's 514, both close to each other.

"I will let you unpack and then I can meet you downstairs in an hour, maybe? So we can eat lunch… or actually dinner. It's already 11 PM! Damn the jet lag. What do you think?" asked Paul, checking his watch.

"That would be lovely, actually" smiled Sofia.

"You already speak like a proper English lady, now! Catching up fast!" he joked, before opening the door and disappearing inside his room.

Sofia imitated him and took a step inside: the room was large and beautifully decorated. Her bed was a king-size one, with two night tables on each side of it. A large TV screen was on the wall facing the bed, and just under it, there was desk with a lamp and books and magazines. A cozy fireplace was in a corner of the room, and opposite of it, there was a mini bar. Her bathroom with a rain shower was on the left side of the entrance door.

Sofia opened her luggage and started unpacking, placing her clothes and shoes in the wardrobe opposite of the bathroom. She then decided to take a quick shower and redo her make-up before the meeting with Paul.

When she was done, it was only five minutes left. She wore her high heel shoes and quickly took the elevator downstairs to the first floor, where Paul was waiting for her by the reception jovially speaking to the receptionist, an attractive woman around her age.

Sofia felt a mix of annoyance at the sight of Paul talking to the girl and pride for being his actual date, so she walked towards them with decision.

When Paul noticed her, he turned to look at her and welcomed her with a broad smile.

"Sofia! You look splendid!" he said, opening his arms to compliment her apparel.

"So do you" she replied, and she meant it. He was wearing a dark grey shirt, a pair of matching jeans and a black button-down coat.

Despite it being the beginning of September, it was still relatively cold in London at night, and so both of them were wearing their coats.

Paul offered her his arm, which she took with a smile and, after wishing the receptionist a good night, they proceeded outside.

"So, where would you like to go?" he asked politely.

"Uhm, I don't know. I am not familiar with this part of London" she answered, staring at the multitude of shops and ethnic restaurants scattered all around.

"We could take a taxi and go to Baker Street, or Westminster, or wherever you like" he said.

"We can try Baker Street. But we can actually take the tube, so you get to try it for once!" she suggested enthusiastically. He nodded and they walked to the underground station, which was only two minutes away, and bought two tickets.

The train arrived after 3 minutes, and after four stops they stepped into Baker Street, still bustling with people despite the time.

"Is there anything you would like to eat tonight?" he asked in a very gentleman-like tone.

"We can try the sushi!" she answered and chuckled at his very excited expression.

And so they walked to a traditional Japanese restaurant a few meters away from them, and took their seats at the table.

A smiling Japanese waiter came rushing to their table to take their order, and came shortly after back with Sake. They had to wait a little bit more for their food to arrive, with the locale being full of guests chatting and looking satisfied.

When the waiter came back with a miniature wooden boat loaded with any variety of sushi, Sofia had wished she had brought a camera with her: Paul's expression was priceless.

"This is _by far_ the best sushi I have ever eaten in my entire life!" he said after swallowing his salmon maki.

"It really is" agreed Sofia "though I still believe you are being carried away by the fact we actually are in London, and so everything looks and tastes better".

"Party pooper" he grinned, and took another maki.

The evening was pleasant, with the two of them just chatting about small things and enjoying the atmosphere in the restaurant. When the clock chimed 1, people started standing up to pay and leave. They had finished a while ago, but had been sitting to converse at their table.

Paul insisted to pay for both of them, and then escorted her outside, opening the door for her.

Sofia buttoned her coat all the way to the throat when she stepped outside. It was now freezing cold, and Paul followed her shortly after.

None of them was really tired, so they decided to just take a walk around and then they could book a taxi back to the hotel.

"So tomorrow's the big day" started Paul. He was obviously referring to the beginning of their new experiments, but Sofia had preferred he hadn't started that conversation, as she would suddenly feel very nervous at the very thought.

"Yes, it is…" replied Sofia uncertainly. The streets were empty now, and they were walking side by side illuminated only by the lights of the lampposts.

"You worry too much" he continued, as if he had read her mind "it's gonna be fine".

"But Paul, what if…?" But Sofia never got to finish her sentence, as a rough voice behind them yelled at them.

"Going somewhere?"

Sofia and Paul turned around at the same time to face a group of four boys around 20, a couple of them carrying crowbars and looking menacingly at them. The one that had spoken approached Sofia with nonchalance, and reached out.

"Gimme that purse, sweetheart" he said. He smelled of cheap beer and cigarettes.

Sofia instinctively held onto her purse, as if trying to hide it, and the boy grinned horribly.

"Not a smart move, beautiful. Hand that over".

When Sofia refused to give him the purse, the boy and the rest of his gang got closer to her, ready to hit her with their crowbars, but Paul was faster.

He stood in front of her, reaching out with his arm as to shield her, and turned to face the guys.

"Step aside, Mr. Fancy" the boy grinned again, lifting his arm.

It happened in a second: Paul moved so fast the boys barely had the time to blink, and they were all dashed several meters away from them, and collapsed onto the ground. They all got back up on their feet, with confused expressions on their faces.

"What happened?" some asked.

"Get him!" shouted the boy that seemed to be their leader "beat the hell out of him and then get the girl!"

They all dashed towards them, while Paul just stood there waiting with a defying look.

He didn't even twitch this time: a red bubble had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and had engulfed Sofia and Paul, while the four boys were lifted upon impact with the shield, hovered over the ground for a split second, and then tossed to the other side of the road, where they landed hard.

"Who the hell are you, some kind of X-Man?" asked one of them in shock, before running as far away as possible, followed by the others shortly after.

The shield disappeared, and Sofia was set free. She rushed to Paul, who was giving her his back, breathing heavily.

"Paul, are you alright?" she asked, standing in front of him.

He didn't answer, but looked at her straight into the eyes. He was sweating and breathing more shallowly now. His hands were shaking and looked distorted.

"S-Sofia… it's getting worse" he managed to say in a low voice.

She didn't know what to do to help. He had never lost control like that before, so she did the only thing she could think of that moment: she hugged him tightly.

He didn't react for a while. He simply stood there rigidly, trying to calm down. But soon she felt his racing heart beating against his chest return to a normal speed, and he wrapped one arm around her.

"Thank you" he whispered softly.

"How are you feeling?" she asked without letting him go. She kept breathing in his sweet scent and couldn't get enough.

"Better now" he answered. She noticed he didn't let go either, but after several minutes, when she was sure he had calmed down, she reluctantly broke the embrace.

"That's not how I had planned our evening to end" he managed to say with a smile.

"No, definitely not" she smiled back.

A black cab slowly drove by them and then stopped, the taxi driver shouted if they needed a ride.

Paul and Sofia exchanged a look before getting in the car.

* * *

Sofia had thanked him many times before wishing him good night and disappearing in her room. Paul was lying on his bed and kept thinking that the one that had been saved that night was himself.

He had felt the monster lurking inside him become stronger than ever, almost managing to take over. If it hadn't been for Sofia's embrace, it would have won.

Paul was not sure how long he could keep fighting it, preventing it from taking over his body and his mind. He was becoming a Shifter, and if they didn't find a cure fast, it would not take long before his plan that he had been carrying on so brilliantly for so many years would fall apart.

But he still trusted in his powers: his visions had always proved trustworthy. He just couldn't tell _when_ a certain event would occur, but it would surely happen.

And Paul had seen Sofia coming to him with a cure.

They would meet Dr. Mason the following day, and he was confident this would do the trick. They were close, very close.

He just needed to hold on a little bit longer.

 _Sofia._

He found himself thinking about her more and more often. He had thought it could have been a consequence of them working so close together now, but it had felt different that night.

When she had embraced him he had felt strange, like he hadn't felt in many years.

He felt calm, and relaxed, and happy.

The monster inside him had tried to fight back, but her perfume, her voice, her presence had tamed it in no time.

It normally took Paul hours to gather control of himself again when he was alone. But not when he was with her.

There was something special about that girl, who was dedicating her research and her life to help him, a man that could very easily kill her in a matter of seconds.

He thought she was very pretty. He had had many pretty girlfriends of course, and tons of his own female employees were indeed after him, many of them attractive and charming. But something about Sofia Amaral made her special.

He thought it could be that innocent-looking face, her large sweet eyes, or her kind smile, or even her incredible talent and intelligence. He was a man, after all, and it was easy to find a woman like Sofia attractive.

But how many beautiful, sweet and kind girls could he get? Countless, he knew that. So why wasn't he after them instead? All it took was a seductive whisper and a gentle stroke on their cheek…

He was sure Sofia liked him back, and that she might be developing a crush on him. He could recognize the clues, as most girls reacted the same way: either blushing at every small innuendo, and saying stupid things at the most inopportune times, or trying their best to ignore the source of their crush, failing miserably in the process.

Sofia's awkwardness around him made him chuckle, and once again he pictured her blushing in his mind.

The animalistic and predatory part of him told him to start his own experiment on Sofia Amaral, capture her heart and ensure a reliable and strong ally.

The girl would be so deeply in love with him, that she would never leave his side.

He could and would win this battle. But did he really want to conquer her like a simple trophy, have his way with her and then move on to the next one? He wasn't merely attracted to her, but actually found her a very interesting and potential candidate for a long-lasting relationship.

He shook his head. No, he couldn't do that to sweet and brave Sofia. She deserved better than a monster who could lose control at any time, and potentially kill her.

Although, if she did find a cure, maybe he could ask her out on a proper date?

He couldn't help but smile at the thought.

* * *

Sofia slept very bad that night. And not because the bed was uncomfortable, but because the events of the evening with Paul, added to the fact that she would be experimenting a theory on her own, made her feel agitated and nervous.

Both Paul and Dr. Kim were confident she would prove successful, but she decided to be humble and pessimistic, so she would not be disappointed if they failed.

And so she got up much before her alarm would go off, got ready and went downstairs. Breakfast would be served in a couple of hours, so she decided to take a short walk around to enjoy the quietness of London at dawn.

It was still cold and misty, but the sky was becoming clearer by the minute.

She did not walk too far from the hotel, afraid of stumbling upon another unpleasant encounter when she was all alone, and kept thinking about Paul's syndrome.

What if she ended up hurting him? Or worse, killing him? What if her theory would prove terribly wrong, and she even accelerated the process of Paul becoming a Shifter?

She tried to tell herself to be positive, but the picture of Paul releasing a wave of energy against his will, his distorted figure, haunted her thoughts.

But he had indeed reassured her he had seen her coming with a cure in one of his visions. And they had never proved wrong.

"What if they do this time?" she whispered to herself.

When the feeble sunrays started filtering through the clouds, and the streets began bustling with cars and people going to work, she decided to head back.

She was not sure whether she should go upstairs and knock on Paul's door, or if she should simply go to the restaurant on her own and meet him there. Finally, she resolved to ask the receptionist if she had seen him around.

"Yes, he said he would be waiting for you by the entrance to the restaurant" the girl said with a smile.

Sofia walked to the restaurant, and she got a glimpse of Paul, now wearing a pair of blue jeans, a light grey jumper and trainers.

"Good morning, Paul" she grinned widely "Feeling sporty today?"

"Good morning to you, Sofia. Yes, we are in London after all, where even famous rich people are allowed to walk as commoners. And I do want to blend in. I don't want yesterday's events to repeat again" he answered "Shall we?" he then asked, holding the door for her.

"Thank you" Sofia said, stepping into the room. They were among the very first guests, and they got a table for two by the window, where they had a nice view of the brick townhouses outside.

They were served a full English breakfast, and plenty of orange juice and cappuccino.

When they were satisfied, they decided it was finally time to meet Dr. Mason.

Sofia pulled the business-card she had gotten from Dr. Kim out of her pocket, and eyed the address. It was supposed to be twenty minutes away from the hotel by foot.

"The equipment has been sent to the lab" explained Paul, while helping Sofia stand up and offering her her jacket "Everything is ready".

They walked out and proceeded to the left, and then straight, occasionally turning right or left into narrow and dark pathways.

"Weird place to have a workshop" said Paul while leading the way and suddenly stopping in front of a black door "It should be right… here".

The neighborhood was quite shabby, with garbage cans scattered all around, and the other townhouses looked in desperate need of renovation. Some water pipes on the side of the buildings were broken, and drops of water fell to the ground regularly, many of the bricks had popped out, some were missing from the roofs. The windows were shut, most of them so dirty it would be impossible to peer inside no matter what.

"Are you sure this is the right place?" Sofia asked uncertainly. Paul simply pointed at a plate on the door, which recited "Dr. L. J. Mason", then knocked three times. There was no ring bell.

After what felt like an eternity, someone spoke from inside the house.

"Who's that?"

Sofia thought that didn't sound much like a man, but the voice was too muffled to be sure.

"This is Paul Serene, together with my colleague Dr. Sofia Amaral. We were supposed to be joined by Dr. Henry Kim, who couldn't make it" replied Paul.

The person opened the door by only a few inches and peeped out.

It was a woman. She had long, uncombed blond hair, which fell on her face and shoulders. She was wearing no make-up, and could have been pretty if it hadn't been for her wild apparel.

"Come in" she said simply. Her voice did not match her physical appearance, as it sounded soft and dreaming.

The house smelled old, as if no one had properly cleaned it in ages. It was completely dark in the hallway, and the only source of light came from a room to the right, which was a messy living-room. Items were scattered everywhere, the majority of which being books. All the other doors were closed.

The woman led them inside the living-room where she tried to make them space by stacking the books lying on the sofa up in a pile, which miserably fell to the floor. Sofia bent down to help, but she just waved her hand as to say "leave it be".

Paul and Sofia sat on the sofa, which creaked under their weight and seemed to be collapsing any time soon.

"Tea? Coffee?" asked the woman. In the light of the lamp above them, Sofia could see she was pretty young, maybe not older than 36.

"Ehm" she said hesitantly and looking at Paul as if to ask for an advice. He didn't return the stare, but kept looking at the other girl instead as if he had never seen another human being before "I-I will take a tea, please".

"A coffee" added Paul "with sugar".

The woman turned around and disappeared into the opposite room with a single nod of her head. Sofia got a glimpse of the room when the woman opened the door: it was a filthy kitchen, with dirty pans and dished stacked up in the sink. She automatically shuddered.

The woman came back with two steamy mugs, one of tea and one of coffee, that she put on a small coffee table in front of her, and then she grabbed a pot of sugar and passed it to Paul.

She then flopped nonchalantly into an old leaning stool, and asked "So you are here for the experiment?"

Sofia was so shocked to see how savagely she lived, and yet how sweet and kind her voice sounded. She was indeed a strange person.

"Yes, indeed" answered Paul politely as he took an abundant spoon of sugar and stirred it with his coffee "I am confident Dr. Kim's equipment has been delivered as planned".

"It's in my workshop downstairs. Everything went smoothly" the woman said.

"Are you Dr. Mason?" asked Sofia all of a sudden. The woman stared at her for several seconds before answering "Dr. Leah Johann Mason, yes. And you must be the prodigious scientist Henry was telling me about, Dr. Sofia Amaral".

Sofia nodded and smiled weakly "though I would drop the 'prodigious'.

"I have heard things about you" Dr. Mason continued in a lower voice "like that you have come up with a cure for the chronon syndrome. So yes, I would definitely call you prodigious."

"Well" retorted Sofia shyly "I haven't _really_ come up with a cure, but I have a theory".

"Dr. Kim explained everything to me" Dr. Mason continued "it may actually work."

She suddenly stood up and walked outside.

Sofia looked again at Paul to see what he would be doing. He stood up too and followed the doctor, stopping only to turn around and tilt his head to signal Sofia to come with him.

Sofia was very glad she hadn't gotten the chance to have a sip of her tea, which had a disgusting-looking brown layer on the top, and rushed to catch up with Paul.

The three of them walked down a narrow flight of stairs, which led to the basement. Dr. Mason placed her hand on a fingerprint reader and the metal door opened.

The workshop couldn't look more different from the rest of the house: it was _immense_ , bright, clean and tidy. Some weird-looking tools Sofia had never seen before were placed in glass containers, computers ran all over the perimeter of the laboratory, and Dr. Kim's extracting machine and tools had been placed right in the middle, surrounded by cylindrical, white columns. The machine was engulfed by solid anti-radiation glass walls, which would protect anyone in the room from the chronon particles.

"Henry's machine is right here, as you can see, it has not suffered any damage during transportation, and I have reversed the flow to discharge chronon particles instead of absorbing them" explained Dr. Mason.

Sofia was positively impressed, and ran to the computer connected to the machine to check the parameters.

Dr. Mason had prepared everything so that the only thing they needed to do next was activate the machine and try its effects on Paul.

He didn't wait to be asked to sit, and walked directly to the sliding door installed in the glass wall which led to the machine.

"Are you ready?" asked Sofia. Paul grinned broadly and gave her thumbs-up.

Sofia double-checked the parameters before walking to a desk nearby with a panel and activating it.

The machine released a flash of bright light from its core, and the needle in the middle started emitting a ray of radiations that hit Paul.

Sofia monitored the situation from her station, her heart beating fast. But something was not quite right: Paul was sitting in his chair, barely reacting. The only movement that came from him was of his head, occasionally tilting to one side.

"Paul?" Sofia asked "how are you feeling?"

He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again they were unfocused, and darker.

"Stop the process, immediately!" shouted Dr. Mason with a strong, commanding voice that did not sound at all like her usual sweet one.

Sofia immediately ran to the panel and deactivated the machine, while Dr. Mason shut down the program on the PC.

All of a sudden, Dr. Kim's machine released a powerful burst of energy, and the power in the laboratory went off.

The room was now almost completely dark, illuminated only by the emergency lights by the entrance door, and everything was quiet. Sofia could only hear her own breathing for a moment, before registering a noise she would never forget: it was a sound she had never heard before, a distorted cacophony that disturbed her, made her feel anxiety and fear.

"Paul?" she called, panic evident in her voice "Dr. Mason?"

"Sofia, get out of here!" Dr. Mason yelled.

"What's going on?" whispered Sofia, relentlessly moving her head and turning her torso, feeling threat in the air.

The noise was getting closer, and Sofia covered her ears with the palm of her hands and fell on her knees.

Someone was running in the dark, while the distorted sound approached her.

She suddenly felt being lifted up by an incredible force, and then she was flying backwards, hitting the floor with might. She was left breathless for a moment, and then she heard Dr. Mason shout her name again.

"SOFIA, WHERE ARE YOU?"

"H-here…" she whispered weakly. Something in the dark was coming towards her again, she could see the distortion even in the blackness.

"W-what's that?" she asked, unable to move. But just as she formulated the question, she got the answer: something had gone terribly wrong, and Paul had lost control.

Had be become a Shifter?

She immediately tried to stand up to keep as much distance as possible between them, but he was incredibly fast, almost teleporting.

He caught up in a second, punching her hard in the back and Sofia fell again, hitting her head against the metal floor. She felt a warm liquid running from her right temple down her cheek.

She was feeling dizzy and light-headed as pain and fear assailed her. Paul then grabbed her shoulder and violently turned her so she was facing him.

It was too dark to see his face, only distortions.

He started pressing on her throat with his thumbs, and Sofia began chocking.

"SOFIA!" screamed Dr. Mason, desperately running around in order to locate her.

Sofia tried to fight back, but was too weak, too light-headed. Her consciousness was fading away…

"Paul… please…" she managed to plead.

Paul's grip untightened, and Sofia could feel his own hands shaking violently, as if he was trying to refrain his body from obeying the orders receiving from his brain.

He grunted and finally released her just in time before she could lose consciousness. Sofia fell back onto the cold floor and started coughing violently, while Paul groaned as if he was in a lot of pain.

Sofia felt someone grab her arm, and she was lifted up again and forced to run towards the green emergency lights. Dr. Mason had finally found her and had opened the door to escape, she then shut it and slowly slid down to the floor.

"What have we done?" she said, looking possibly even wilder.

Sofia leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. She brought one hand to her temple, which was bleeding profusely, and the other to her throat where Paul's red fingermarks were beginning to show.

They had failed. He had become a Shifter.


	10. Chapter 9

Sofia and Dr. Mason stayed in the small, half-illuminated basement hallway for several minutes, before they finally decided to come back upstairs. None of them dared to open the door to the laboratory to check up on Paul.

Dr. Mason had prepared another cup of hot tea for Sofia, adding some extra strong whisky to calm her down, but she hadn't even touched it.

The other woman sat beside her and wrapped one arm around her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

Sofia was simply in a state of shock. She wanted to cry but her eyes wouldn't wet, she wanted to scream but her lungs refused to. And so she sat on the dusty sofa, surrounded by old books in the dim living-room, staring vacantly at a spot in the red carpet by the fireplace.

"I lost my husband 6 years ago, during an experiment I was carrying to cure a particularly aggressive sarcoma. I thought I had got it right, I was confident I would save him. And I failed miserably: I only sped up the process and killed him. I killed my only reason to live. He was everything to me, he had put his trust in me and I let him down" said Dr Mason out of the blue in a controlled voice despite her confession, and her words were followed by a painful silence. She stood up and left, and Sofia was alone.

Dr. Mason's story had touched her, but she hadn't said anything. A dusty picture on a table in the corner showed a much younger and happier Dr. Mason in the act of laughing as if she had just heard the funniest joke in the world, and she was standing by an attractive man, laughing along and holding her tight. They both had a wedding ring, and Sofia understood how devastating his loss had been to Dr. Mason's health and psyche, aggravated by her sense of guilt.

What was she supposed to do now? Paul Serene was gone now because of her, and she didn't trust Martin Hatch enough to ask for his help. The only person she could turn to was Dr. Kim.

Sofia grabbed her jacket and pulled out her phone. Dr. Kim answered promptly with a jovial voice.

"Sofia! How is it proceeding?" he asked jolly.

"Henry…" she started with a shaky voice, uncaring of the fact she had never really asked Dr. Kim if it was fine for her to use his first name, before cracking up and starting crying. Dr. Kim understood immediately what must have happened.

"No…" he mumbled. He patiently let her finish before asking her what had happened. And Sofia did, telling him in details how Paul had entered the machine, how she had made sure everything was ready before activating it, how he had seemed unreactive and how his eyes had unfocused before the lights went out and how he had started following her and attacking her. She recalled the disturbing noise, the distortions, and how her imploring voice had seemed to help him gain some control before escaping.

When she had finished her story, Dr. Kim took some seconds and then said "at least you are fine".

"I don't want to be fine!" she retorted angrily "I have just turned Paul Serene into a Shifter!"

"Shifters cannot be convinced by someone imploring them to let them go, it doesn't work like that. Their minds are completely dissociated from their former selves, they won't recall friends and family or distinguish them from their enemies. They simply attack and kill whatever moves in their own space. Now unless Paul is some kind of extraordinarily self-controlled Shifter, I believe he still has his human form. Furthermore, I would like to remind you that Shifters can only and exclusively exist in stutters".

Sofia blinked several times and processed Dr. Kim's words before accepting the fact that they made sense.

"I gotta go. Thank you, Henry!" she said and hung up. She rushed downstairs, only barely registering Dr. Mason's voice calling her.

"Sofia? What are you doing?"

"Leah, I need you to open the door to the laboratory" Sofia said agitatedly "there is no time to explain, but Paul is still in there!"

"Have you gone mad? He nearly killed you!" Dr. Mason retorted widening her blue eyes.

"He is not a Shifter! I think- I think the chronon particles might have hyper saturated his system and he lost control. But he is not a Shifter, not yet!" continued Sofia, speaking fast "Leah, please…"

Dr. Mason looked at her for a while, before placing her hand on the panel.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Sofia" she said while the doors opened.

Sofia nodded to thank her and then rushed into the room. Paul was lying on the floor in the dark, unconscious.

She kneeled down beside him to check his conditions: he was breathing but only just, and his pulse was weak.

Dr. Mason approached them carefully, and stared at Paul's pale face.

"You were right" she said, looking at Sofia "he is still human. But now he needs to rest".

* * *

Paul woke up in a comfortable bed and his attention was mmediately caught by a figure beside him.

Sofia had fallen asleep in her chair while monitoring his conditions.

Paul had no idea where he was, what happened and why. But he knew for sure that something had gone wrong in the laboratory.

As if him regaining consciousness was a catalyst, Sofia woke up too, lifting her head and immediately fixing her gaze on Paul. Her eyes widened when she realized he was awake too.

"Paul! You're ok!" she said relieved.

The tone of her voice, a mix of relief and worry, was a confirmation that the experiment had indeed failed.

"What happened?" he asked, sitting in bed. His head pounded and his vision was slightly blurred.

"You must rest" she replied matter-of-factly, pushing him back to a lying position. He let her, and then stared at her: she looked pale, and tired. She had a cut on her right temple.

"What happened?" he asked again, his voice more urgent. A terrible suspicion crossed his mind…

Sofia lowered her eyes before speaking. "The particles…something went wrong, they hyper saturated you again. And you- you lost control. I thought you had become one of them…"

Paul's eyes widened in shock and horror.

"Did I do that to you?" he asked, pointing at the cut on her temple.

"You were not yourself… You just lost control and…" she stuttered, but Paul cut her off with a bitter smile.

"Now you tell me exactly what happened in the laboratory, Sofia".

It was a strong command, given in an authoritarian voice that she had never heard come out of his lips.

Sofia had no choice but tell him everything, but for some reason she had decided to soften the part about their fight.

"How is it possible I am back to being myself?" he asked, more to himself than to her, staring at his hands.

"Paul, you have never become a Shifter. The radiations have simply obscured your mind for a while" she said softly, placing her hand on his.

"But how come you are alive? I should have killed you and Leah" he continued.

"You barely noticed Leah, you were pretty determined to kill me actually" she said, chuckling lightly "and you would have succeeded had I not pleaded you to stop. And you did."

"Just like that?" Paul asked "you asked me to stop and I did it?"

"Well, yes" Sofia answered, shrugging her shoulders "pretty much".

"Interesting" mumbled Paul with a frown.

Paul could not remember any detail of the story told by Sofia. The last thing he recalled was when he had been hit by the chronon, and the feeling of power rising and filling his whole spirit, the feeling of being immortal and unbeatable. It overcame him so quickly that he hadn't had any chance to fight back, and then his memories ended.

He wanted to say many things, that he was so sorry he had hurt her, nearly killed her even, but somehow he couldn't enunciate those simple words. Instead, he just asked where they were.

"Leah's bedroom. Probably the only room in the whole house that is livable" giggled Sofia "she is a nice woman, after all".

Paul didn't say anything, and Sofia thought he was discouraged.

"Leah and I have been discussing about what happened in the laboratory" she continued "it doesn't help to inject or extract chronon particles, but _maybe_ we have found the flaw in the plan!"

Paul was listening carefully now, and Sofia continued "I think we need to stabilize the chronon particles first before transferring them into your system. It is the only logical explanation. The experiment failed, but it showed us one interesting and vital point: the radiations make you stronger. We only need to find a way to make them react differently once in contact with you. And so, instead of turning you into a psycho, their core, which will be stabilized beforehand, will start a chemical reaction with your existing particles in order to improve your health conditions".

Paul was not a scientist or a doctor, but had been around some long enough to understand what she was talking about, and thought that her theory had a valid point.

"It doesn't cost anything to try" he nodded, feeling a lot more hopeful.

"Actually it does" Sofia retorted with a toothy smile, pointing at her cut "but we don't have much choice, do we?"

* * *

A few days after the incident in the laboratory, Paul decided he had had enough of being treated like a sick child, and stood up despite Leah and Sofia's protests.

"Women worry too much" he said waving his hand in the air as if to dismiss them.

The two girls, however, had refused to start their new experiment on Paul after such a short period of recovery time, even if Paul had reassured them many times that he was feeling perfectly well. Therefore, they made a deal: Paul would wait a few more days, so that Leah could analyze his blood samples and his overall health conditions before letting him in the laboratory again.

The days went by monotonously for Paul, who was forced to sit in bed and wait while the two girls scattered back and forth to monitor him or take more blood samples.

Sometimes he suspected that Sofia and Leah slept in shifts just to keep an eye on him during the night, to make sure he wouldn't worsen or try and flee the house.

"Have you read the book ' _M_ _isery'_ by Stephen King?" he said one morning, when Sofia entered his room bringing a tray with breakfast.

"Don't be silly, Paul. We are here for you" she retorted, placing the tray on his lap and taking her usual seat beside him.

"I am feeling fine" he said stubbornly.

"Well, you _are_ fine. We've got the results, and you are in perfect shape" replied Sofia, giving him an encouraging smile "so we can start the experiment whenever you feel like doing it".

Paul could have hugged her, but instead he raised both his arms to the sky and exclaimed "Finally free from these women's tyranny!"

Sofia poked his arm and laughed. She stood up and left the room to let Paul eat.

"Where's my sugar?!" he playfully shouted after her.

Sofia rolled her eyes and inwardly chuckled before she closed the door behind her.

* * *

Someone knocked on his door, and Paul went to open it. He had just finished dressing himself, and Sofia stepped into the room.

"Since when did you start knocking?" he asked.

"Since you actually got up. I don't want to risk seeing you half-naked or something" she retorted.

"You sure?" he mocked with a triumphant smirk, which widened even more at her shocked expression.

"Come on, Leah is waiting for us downstairs" she said, her voice a little too high-pitched.

Paul chuckled and followed her to the laboratory, where Leah was waiting.

The door was opened once again, and the party stepped inside.

"Leah and I have been working on stabilizing the particles" Sofia announced enthusiastically "I am confident we are going to be successful, Paul!"

"Me too" Paul nodder. He could sense that something was different. This time it would work.

The two scientists went through their usual checklist, while Paul waited in his chair. Finally, Sofia nodded at him to signal they were ready to start.

Once again, Sofia went to the control panel and activated the machine. The core started and the needle projected the usual ray of radiations.

Paul could immediately feel the difference: every particle that touched his skin made him feel strong, more lucid and rational than he had ever been before. His face gained more color, his skin became smoother. The biggest change, however, was _inside_ him: the monster that always lurked deep inside became quieter, as if sleeping. He could relax without worrying that the thing could suddenly attack and take over.

Sofia had succeeded.

"Paul?" she asked nervously "are you alright?"

"Never been better" he answered triumphantly "It's working!"

Sofia and Leah exchanged an excited smile.

"We are going to stop it now, Paul" said Sofia from her station, and proceeded to deactivate the machine.

The core fell silent, and the flow of particles was interrupted.

Paul opened his eyes and felt truly alive for the first time in years. His vision was more detailed, the sounds, the colors, the shapes…

Sofia and Leah approached him to check up on him with Dr. Kim's medical equipment.

"Pulse stable. Heartbeat stable. Blood pressure stable. Oxygen level stable" listed Leah, while Sofia ticked the parameters on her checklist.

"We did it" Leah exclaimed excitedly " _you_ did it!"

Sofia felt so joyous and triumphant she almost cried.

Paul had been right all along. She had found the cure.


	11. Chapter 10

"You're coming back tomorrow?" Julia asked excitedly.

"Yes, we should be landing late though, so I will see you on Friday at work" answered Sofia while sipping her coffee.

"And how's your little holiday with Mr. Serene proceeding?" Karin butted in with a mocking smirk, the girl sitting beside Julia in front of the computer.

Sofia's red face was perfectly visible even in her dark room, and the girls giggled from the other side of her laptop screen.

"First of all, this is not a holiday. And secondly, our… business trip is proceeding well" replied Sofia.

"What is it you are doing in London, anyway?" Julia inquired.

"I told you! We needed to meet up with one of Dr. Kim's fellow scientists, Dr. Mason, to discuss some new developments in finding a cure to the chronon syndrome. And since it was an important meeting, and Dr. Kim couldn't make it, Paul joined me instead" lied Sofia. She hated it, but could not risk revealing that Paul was the subject of their experiments. Julia seemed deep in thought but didn't say anything.

"Well, I really need to send this report to Hatch before tonight, or he will kill me. Literally. And then I am going straight to bed, because tomorrow I need to be at work early" Karin said while stretching.

"Yeah, I'd better go too" agreed Julia, who still seemed thoughtful.

"See you soon then, Sofia! Have a nice flight. You are flying with Sexy Serene after all!" Karin grinned, and left while waving at her.

Julia rolled her eyes at her friend, and gave Sofia a wide smile before disconnecting her profile, and Sofia was left to stare at the empty chat screen.

It was still relatively early in London compared to the USA, and so she had decided to take Paul to the London Eye to celebrate their achievement.

She met him in Leah's living-room shortly after, still wearing his casual clothes, and they left the shabby house to head to the nearest tube.

They traveled all the way to Waterloo Station, and walked to the London Eye. It was a Tuesday and so it was not particularly crowded. They bought the tickets and waited for their turn in line, before finally stepping into one of the cylindrical glass capsules which would take them all the way to the top, where they could enjoy a breath-taking view of London.

They were the only ones in their capsule, and had a full 360 degrees' view of the capital. Paul looked so captivated and for a second, Sofia couldn't picture him as the leader of a powerful company who was trying to save the world. She couldn't associate the man in front of her with the dangerous one she had faced over a week before.

He was simply Paul, a man who was enjoying his short holiday in another country.

She smiled at the very thought of Paul having a normal life and, by looking at his happy yet nostalgic expression while staring at the view, realized that was all he wanted.

He had not founded Monarch to gain power, fame or more money. He had founded Monarch to save mankind. And he had lost everything in the process.

She could tell he missed Jack, the days where they were young and without a thought on their minds.

She had never asked him how they had met each other, how they had become best friends and how their lives used to be before the fracture, and finally realized she wanted to know. She wanted to know everything about him, see pictures of him when he was younger, get to know his life better to understand why he had made certain choices.

Paul was still staring out of the window without saying a word. Sofia approached him and suddenly took his hand into hers. He squeezed it lightly and turned to smile at her.

"This is one of the happiest days of my life, Sofia. Thanks to you" he said softly.

"Is it?" she asked. She couldn't help but think he was indeed happy, but at the same time he looked so lost in thought, as if his spirit was somewhere else, far away…

He gave her a questioning look, and she sighed.

"I think you are not entirely satisfied. You look so sad sometimes" she explained.

He went back to staring at the view, and his face turned more serious.

"You must understand I have lots of responsibilities, Sofia. And many choices I have made have brought me this far, and I still think I did the right thing, but you must understand that my life has changed drastically in a blink of an eye" he told her.

"Is it because of Jack Joyce?" she asked. He simply nodded.

"You miss him, right? You miss the old times" she continued.

"The past is the past, Sofia. And it cannot be changed. I have tried so many times. I have tried to go back and undo things, but no matter what I do or what I say, my actions simply keep repeating. The past is already written and cannot be undone. It has taken me many years to accept this, and I have to take responsibility for my actions and my choices. Jack is buried with my past" he replied, and released his hand from hers just when the wheel started moving again.

Sofia almost regretted asking him about Jack, as his expression had turned possibly sadder, but also more determined.

When the wheels came to a halt, Paul jumped out of the capsule and then reached out to help her.

"What do you wanna do now?" he asked. Sofia only wanted to see him smile again and suggested paying a visit to the aquarium nearby. They walked to the entrance and bought their tickets.

Sofia tried her best to distract him, by pointing at weird-looking fish, or asking him to take pictures of her but, even if he occasionally smiled, she could tell he was still thinking about their conversation.

"I have an idea!" she suddenly said when their tour had finished. She pointed at a spot between the aquarium and a place called 'Shrek's adventure' "Do you like scary stuff?"

Sofia had always kept her distance from the London Dungeons: even though it was all staged and just meant to entertain, she couldn't help but feel scared at the very sight of the entrance.

The loud noises coming from the inside were enough for her to keep her away.

But her sixth sense told her that would do the trick, and so she grabbed Paul's arm and pulled him inside.

"The London Dungeons, really?!" he complained, though he was fighting back a smile.

"Shush" she commanded and decided to buy the tickets herself this time "you're gonna love it!"

"Oh, I'm gonna love it so much I'll build my own inside Monarch Tower" he said sarcastically.

"That would be fun" she replied jovially, and collected their tickets "come on!"

There was quite a lot of people waiting in line, and so they were divided into groups of 7 or 8.

After waiting for 15 minutes, and with Paul starting to become impatient, it was finally their turn to step inside the dungeons.

Sofia almost regretted her idea, and started walking through the dark corridors with uncertain steps, and jerking her head at the smallest sound.

"What was that?" she asked with fear in her voice when a particularly loud scream could be heard.

"Probably someone getting scared to death" replied Paul with an amused smirk.

They suddenly found themselves in a large chamber filled with real-size mirrors placed one after another, in order to create confusing paths. Only one led to the exit.

It was so dark that Sofia could barely see anything, and wherever she turned, she could see her own reflex. Her head started spinning, and she reached out with both her arms to make sure she was not bumping into anyone else.

She panicked even more when she realized Paul was not with her anymore.

"Paul?" she called "PAUL?!"

She kept advancing, trying to adapt her eyes to the darkness, and then an arm grabbed her and she screamed.

"Hey hey, it's me!" said Paul, trying to calm her down.

"Oh thank God!" she exclaimed relieved.

"This way" he said, and led her to the exit where the rest of the group was already proceeding to the next room.

"Don't you ever dare leave my side again" Sofia commanded, still agitated.

"As you wish, my lady. But you may regret it" mocked Paul.

As they approached the end of their tour, Sofia realized it was now Paul who was in charge, encouraging her to continue when she started rushing to the nearest exit.

"No" said Sofia firmly at the sight of a row of metal chairs in front of her. The sign read "Drop Dead: Drop Ride To Doom".

They were still wet after the boat ride, which had ended with a huge splash in the water, and Sofia had had enough.

"Anything but this" she continued "I'm leaving, bye bye".

"Come on!" exclaimed Paul "So you manage to fight and survive an encounter with a Shifter, and walk away from a carousel?"

"First of all, you were not a Shifter. And secondly, that's not a carousel!" retorted Sofia "It's how I die".

Paul laughed, a genuine laugh that took Sofia aback: he had finally returned to being his normal self, and she thought he looked extremely handsome with his still-wet apparel and that happy expression.

"Sofia, _please_! They will even take a picture, look!" he continued and pointed at a camera on top of the attraction.

"Oh, how pretty! A picture!" she said sarcastically. "Oh, alright then for goodness' sake!" she surrendered at the sight of his pleading expression, and reluctantly took her seat. Paul sat beside her and then they were slowly lifted until they could almost touch the ceiling. Sofia looked down and realized only then how far up they were. She swallowed hard and then focused on the speech some puppet judges were making. They were only dolls, of course, sentencing them to death, but she was nervous nonetheless.

Sofia's heart started racing at the thought of what would happen soon, but the volume was so low she found herself concentrating on the speech.

And then, all of a sudden and before the speech had ended, they were dropped.

She was so taken by surprise and horror that the scream froze in her lungs, and felt as if their insides had suddenly jumped to her throat all together.

The machine stopped slowly before reaching the ground, and the others simply laughed after having screamed her lungs out.

"Are you alright?" laughed Paul at her horrified expression.

"I hate you so much" commented Sofia, her voice still shaking with fear.

"Let's check out the picture! I bet it's _epic_!" and he ran to the desk where they could buy their picture of the drop.

Two hours later, when they were sitting in Leah's living-room, Paul was still laughing his heart out at Sofia's face on the picture. He had bought it as soon as he had set his eyes on it.

"Don't you dare show it to anyone" she said, sipping her tea calmly.

"You two are really cute together" said Leah out of the blue, making Sofia almost choke on her tea.

"I guess we are, yeah" Paul agreed with another smirk.

* * *

Leah Mason was not the cleanest or the most normal in the world, but it was with heavy heart that Sofia bid her goodbye the following day. One of Paul's private helicopters would pick up Dr. Kim's equipment later during the day, when Paul and Sofia were already halfway back to the USA.

"Don't be a stranger" said Leah hugging both of them "and keep up with the good work".

"There will always be an available position for you in our team, you know that Leah" smiled Paul.

"Thank you, Paul. But I know you have everything you need already. I know you will fix the fracture" replied Leah. She had been kept informed by Dr. Kim, but had never really wanted to get involved for some reason. Sofia suspected her husband's loss could be the cause of her solitude, and the reason why she had lost interest in research. But she couldn't deny either that Leah had been extremely helpful towards her and Paul with her hospitality and knowledge.

Their taxi was waiting for them outside the dark alley and, still waving at Leah, Sofia and Paul got in the car and started driving to the airport.

Their trip back to the USA would be one hour less than scheduled, thanks to some shortcuts the captain would be taking. But the flight would be long nevertheless, and Sofia bought a book and some magazines to keep herself busy during the trip.

Both she and Paul ended up sleeping for most part of the flight, since they didn't want to risk suffering from jet leg like they did when they had first arrived in London. They needed to get back to work as soon as possible, and resting was not part of their plan.

So when the plane landed, both of them felt quite refreshed, though hungry and decided to stop to eat before proceeding to Paul's Aventador still parked at the top of the parking lot.

He drove her to her place, helping her with the luggage.

"So, I guess I will see you on Friday" she said, her hair fluttering with a sudden blow of cold wind. She shot out her right hand to shake his, but he simply smiled and embraced her. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent she had become so fond of, feeling suddenly empty when he let her go.

"Thank you, Sofia. For everything" he said softly and she felt truly happy.

* * *

"Look who's baaaaack!"

Karin and Julia had decided to wait for Sofia by the reception, and Karin was giving her quite a warm welcoming, attracting the attention of every single person sitting in the large room. Martha, the secretary, raised an eyebrow.

Karin didn't seem to notice, or maybe she didn't really care, and ran to hug her friend. Sofia smiled broadly, and hugged her back before embracing Julia too.

"We've missed you" said her calmer friend "I hope your trip went well".

"Yes, indeed! But I will explain everything once we are upstairs" and Sofia led her friends to the closest elevator and proceeded to their office.

Everything was just like she had left it except for a small cake on her desk, which read 'Welcome back, Sofia!'

She was speechless and hugged both her friends again before slicing the cake and offering it to Karin and Julia.

"You didn't have to…" she said blushing.

"We thought you'd need some sugar after all the traveling you've done" giggled Julia.

"Well, I beg to differ. I bet she got enough sugar with Serene, if you know what I mean" retorted Karin playfully wiggling her brows, and bit her cake.

Sofia blushed violently and told her friend they had simply been working on the cure, which they managed to find in the very end with the help of another scientist.

"So you were not alone on your honeymoon?" mocked Karin.

"No, we were working all along with one of Dr. Kim's colleagues and friend, Dr. Mason, as I already told you" replied Sofia "and we were not on our honeymoon, for goodness' sake!"

"You managed to find a cure, then" continued Julia calmly "How?"

Sofia then explained how they had had to stabilize the chronon particles first before the subject could benefit from them.

"Makes sense" Julia continued pensively "that was clever indeed. But how do you know it worked?"

Sofia felt like her friend knew more than she let on: the edge of her voice when she had asked the question made Sofia believe Julia was suspecting something.

"Ehm…" she started, but didn't know how to answer to her question without revealing Paul's condition "let's just say we have run tests, and they all showed positive results. All the calculations were correct, and Dr. Mason and Dr. Kim agree."

"Ok. But why did Paul Serene himself come with you to London? Couldn't you have gone alone, or with one of us? He is our CEO, and surely has other things to attend to than keeping an eye on the research team. His interest in the cure is quite… fascinating" retorted Julia, and Sofia now knew she definitely suspected that Paul was her patient.

Just when Sofia opened her mouth to speak, Karin sighed at said "He must have his motives, Julia. Leave her alone, it's only her first day at work after the flight!"

Sofia could have hugged her, and the topic was dropped. But Julia didn't seem satisfied, and kept eyeing her suspiciously.

Sofia tried her best to ignore Julia's stare and concentrated on her work. She would not be meeting Dr. Kim that day, as she had been assigned to paper work. She suspected Paul was giving her easy days to allow her to relax a bit, but right then Sofia had wished she could just leave her office instead of bearing Julia's annoying gaze.

At lunch time, just when Sofia was done filing some papers regarding the latest reports on chronon harvesting at Ground Zero for Paul to sign, Martin Hatch walked into their office.

"Good morning, ladies. I will be having a word with Dr. Amaral" he said without even looking at Julia and Karin. He hadn't asked for them to leave: it was a command, and the girls left immediately with a "See you at the cafeteria, Sofia".

"Mr. Hatch. What can I do for you?" Sofia asked without standing. She had tried to be friendly with Hatch, tried to cope with his commanding and invasive personality, but had failed. And so she had decided to simply ignore him, and avoid him as much as possible. The rare times they had to talk to each other, she would try to act civil and professional.

"I just wanted to congratulate you with your recent discovery. I can assure you that Paul is extremely pleased and grateful, and he has decided to promote you to Assistant Head of Research, raise your salary and your security clearance" he said, his expression unreadable "you may collect your new badge in his office. For security reasons, we will not be leaving security badges at the reception any longer. And you can expect a raise in salary next month. A bulletin will be sent to every employee in Monarch to inform them about your promotion".

Sofia blinked several times, and muttered a "thank you" before he turned around and left without another word.

She was a bit confused: why hadn't Paul mentioned this to her before? And why had he sent Hatch to inform her? She was slightly hurt, and thought that even a simple e-mail from him would have been hundreds of times better than sending Martin Hatch to brief her.

Sofia sighed heavily and thought that Paul was, after all, her boss and the CEO of the largest company every built, and he could do whatever he pleased.

She drew off the papers and stood up to run to the cafeteria before lunch break would be over.

"Wow Sofia, that is _awesome_!" Karin exclaimed at their table upon hearing the news of her promotion.

"Thank you! That was the least I was expecting" replied Sofia with a huge smile.

Julia hadn't said anything, and looked too focused on her food.

"Something's wrong?" Karin asked her.

"Uh? Oh, no nothing. Congratulations Sofia" Julia said coldly, and then she returned to her food and opened a magazine.

Karin gave her a questioning look, but didn't say anything more. Sofia suspected Julia was jealous but she thought her friend simply needed some time to mull over it.

"Well, I will be going back to work. See you girls later" Julia said a few minutes later. She had barely touched her food, and Sofia had noticed she was just pretending to read: her eyes were fixed on the pages, but were not really moving.

"What is wrong with her?" said Karin after Julia had left. Sofia simply dismissed the matter with a shrug.

* * *

Julia was not in the office the following Monday after the weekend, and Karin had not heard from her at all.

"Maybe she got sick, and yet it is weird she hasn't told us. She normally bombs me with messages on WhatsApp, you know"Karin said worriedly.

Sofia could understand Julia's frustration: she had been working for Monarch for much longer than her, had tried her best to please Paul by giving him the cure he so much wanted, but had been beaten by Sofia, the newest recruit. But she also thought her friend was acting way too childishly now by ignoring them and not showing up at work. If Julia had a problem with her, she might as well tell her square in the face and have an adult conversation.

"Are you going to the lab today? I have finally been assigned to CFR research this morning. I was getting tired of filing papers: I am a scientist, not a secretary!" Karin told her.

"Actually I was supposed to, but my workday has been changed and now it is just blank. I don't know what that means" replied Sofia, showing her friend her shedule on her laptop.

"Uhm" Karin hummed while examining the list "it is very strange they changed your workday all of a sudden. I found a blank day only once on my list, but they had immediately changed it a few days beforehand. Maybe you should talk to Serene".

"He has surely more important things to do than checking my shifts" retorted Sofia with a sigh. Truth was that Sofia still couldn't accept the lack of communication between her and Paul after all they had been through in London. Not only had he not sent her one single e-mail or text message since they had come back, but had even instructed Hatch to fetch her and give her the news about her promotion.

"Then ask Dr. Kim. He is in the lab right now" Karin suggested and went for the door.

Sofia followed her friend down to the laboratories and unlocked the door.

The research team was already at work as usual, but still no trace of Julia.

"Sofia!"

Sofia turned to her left where Dr. Kim was walking towards her with open arms and a broad smile.

They hugged and Dr. Kim congratulated her multiple times on her excellent work and her new promotion.

"They couldn't have chosen a better assistant for this job, really" he said and Sofia knew he meant it by his genuine smile.

"Sofia, I will get to work. I'll see you later at lunch?" asked Karin with a smile.

"Of course!" Sofia replied and her friend gave her a victory gesture and went to her station.

"Henry, I was actually wondering who makes our shifts? I got a blank day today" asked Sofia.

"Normally it's me when it comes to the research team. And either Paul or Martin takes care of mine" he answered "but I definitely have not changed the list this morning."

"Well, I was supposed to work at the lab today, but the list has been changed all of a sudden and now it doesn't show anything" Sofia retorted.

"It might be that it has something to do with your promotion. Have you asked Paul?" Dr. Kim suggested.

"No, I haven't. I didn't think it was that important actually" replied Sofia.

"I would ask him. Maybe he expects you to. It is in your interest to ask about your shifts, and since you just got promoted maybe you need to report to him to find out what to do next" Dr. Kim continued.

Sofia didn't have much choice than leaving the lab and walking all the way to Paul's office. She would have preferred not to, she still felt hurt by Paul's lack of interest.

She knocked at Paul's door and entered when she heard his voice inviting her in.

"Sofia!" he welcomed her. He was sitting at his desk and looked much healthier. His face was fuller and had more color, even his hair looked darker and his eyes were bright and vigilant.

"Good morning, sir. I was just wondering about my shift today. I appear to have a blank day, which was not on my list earlier" she replied, clutching her hands behind her back and looking impassive.

Paul gave her a questioning look, and opened his mouth slightly as if he wanted to ask her something in return.

"Sir?" he finally asked after several seconds.

"Pardon me?" retorted Sofia politely.

"You called me sir?" Paul repeated with a confused smile "did I do something wrong?"

Sofia was not sure if she should tell him or not. It felt childish, like she didn't really have the right to say anything about that but it was stronger than her: she couldn't simply ignore the fact that he had been avoiding her ever since he had gotten what he had always wanted.

"Well, where do I begin? Yes, after coming back from London where I almost risked my life to find a cure for you, you disappear without a trace. Then you send Hatch to tell me I just got promoted. Still no message from you, no nothing. I suppose you got what you wanted, so you don't really need me anymore, right?"

The words left her lips without control, taken over by anger and frustration. She almost regretted it as she thought of the consequences of nearly screaming at her boss.

Paul just sat in his chair, staring at her with a confused expression.

"I'm sorry" he finally said, massaging his right temple with one hand "I have been so busy lately. Martin has done an excellent job at helping me while we were in London, but I still have a lot of paperwork to do and it's not easy to plan your private life when you must deal with investments, the market, coordinating the different departments or keeping in touch with the city's mayor, the local police, the media… It's a lot of work. I hope you understand, Sofia. But I want you to know how truly grateful I am to you for helping me with my syndrome. My life has been so much better without having to deal with the attacks, and I can focus more on the future plans. That is all thanks to you".

Sofia felt immediately ashamed: she had been so selfish to think Paul had been ignoring her after being cured, while he was simply dealing with a great variety of things she had no idea about. He was, after all, an influent and powerful individual. For some reason, the days they had spent together in London, seeing him living an almost normal life had made her forget who he still was back home.

He had been cured, but that didn't mean the fracture had been fixed. There was still a lot of work to do.

"I am so sorry…" she said with a small voice and lowering her head.

She felt him stand up and approach her. He lifted her chin with his thumb and index fingers and looked straight into her eyes.

"Hey, it's fine. But I want you to know I have not been ignoring you. You saved my life and I will forever owe you for that" he whispered, and gently stroked her cheek.

Sofia's heart was hammering so hard she was afraid everyone nearby could hear it. They stared at each other for several seconds, Paul was getting closer to her face, his lips slightly parted-

"Excuse me" a deep voice said from behind them.

Paul immediately stopped and lifted his head to see who had come into his office without bothering to knock.

"Martin" he said with a neutral voice.

"Have I interrupted something?" Hatch said. He had a horrible smirk that made Sofia shiver.

"Not at all" answered Paul with a tone that made clear he had interrupted something quite important "how may I help you?"

Hatch looked at them for a while, as if inspecting them, before approaching Paul's desk holding a folder.

"This is the latest report on the Lifeboat. Its construction has just been initiated, and it is required of you to read the file, sign it and monitor the operation. This is by far one of the most vital for Monarch" explained Hatch.

"Excellent!" exclaimed Paul "this is the first step towards our success. Thank you, Martin".

Hatch nodded once and then left the office, and Sofia felt the hair on her neck stand on edge when he passed by her.

"Sorry about that" Paul apologized after Hatch had closed the door behind him "Martin has his own ways, which are not particularly polite. But he is a very dedicated employee. The Lifeboat construction has finally been initiated, which means in a couple of years we will have the certainty of a safe haven when the zero state will strike. You, of course, will have a place of honor. Unfortunately, the boat will not be large enough to host all of our employees, so I have selected the fundamental ones who will help me find the ultimate solution to the fracture. Now, about your blank day. It seems that your new promotion is the reason why your previous duty has been cancelled. Honestly, your job will not be that different. You will have some more paperwork to do, and you will be able to coordinate the rest of the team in case Dr. Kim is not present, but you may simply continue with your normal duties".

Sofia just nodded. Paul was so happy about the new operations regarding the Lifeboat that he had completely forgotten about them nearly kissing.

"I will go back to the laboratory, then" she said politely. Part of her wanted to run away in embarrassment, the other just wanted to slap him right across the face.

Paul had opened Hatch's folder and simply smiled at her, wishing her a good day.

Sofia almost stomped out of his office, hurt and irritated.

Had she just imagined him getting so close to her? Had she grown so fond of him that she was just seeing things?

She was suddenly brought back to reality when she realized that Martin Hatch was still standing not too far from Paul's office, leaning perfectly still against the opposite wall and insistently kept staring at her.


	12. Chapter 11

September eventually ended, the weather worsened and the days became shorter and colder. The days went by with Sofia and the research team transferring the chronon particles collected by Monarch's harvesting team to the special chronon containers in the lab, and studying William Joyce's CFR. Their job with the CFR was almost completed, they had discovered how to use the device in connection with the Lifeboat Protocol to keep it activated long enough to find a permanent fix for the fracture.

Julia was still missing, and no one had heard from her. Sofia had tried asking around, she even asked Paul, but they were all clueless.

Both Sofia and Karin were becoming worried, especially when they had tried driving to her place and knocking at her door. No one ever came to open, and the windows in her kitchen and bedroom were shut. The girl would also ignore all of their messages and phone calls.

Paul was trying his best to be more present in Sofia's life. He sent her regular updates on his general health conditions, which seemed stationary and encouraging.

Sofia, on the other hand, was being far colder towards him, and was trying to keep a simple professional relationship.

She had not forgiven him for deceiving her into nearly kissing her in his office, and then dismissing her as if nothing had ever happened.

Sofia was coming to terms with the fact that she was developing –or had developed- quite a crush on her boss. Many times she found herself waking up in the middle of the night after a particularly vivid dream about them embracing or –to her embarrassment- kissing, and her heart ached every time she realized it had been just a dream.

She couldn't say the same about Paul, though. She had thought he liked her back, judging on how he had been acting around her in London or in his office a few weeks before, but couldn't really say he was in love with her. He was popular and desired, and for all she knew, he might be seducing her just like he could be seducing any other female employee in the company.

And even though she missed talking to him, listening to his soft voice, seeing him smirk at her awkwardness, or just having him by her side and breathing in his scent, she had decided she would keep her distance. Doing it now would be better than falling even more for him and breaking her heart entirely later.

Karin was being very supportive after she had realized what was going on. One day at the cafeteria, while the two girls were sitting together eating lunch, Paul Serene had made a short appearance on their TV to congratulate everyone for their excellent job. Karin had mocked her in the start, telling her she had done a great job with him since he looked so healthy again, but when Sofia had lowered her head and taken on a sad and hurt expression, the other girl had immediately hugged her and told her she was young and beautiful, and certainly deserved someone better.

But was there someone better? There were surely many attractive men, but would they measure up? Would they be as mysterious, and dangerously attractive as Paul was? He had a very special something that other men could never match. Maybe it was his condition, his quest to save humankind, his intelligence or simply his way of seducing a woman, but Sofia doubted she could ever fall as deeply in love for someone else after meeting Paul Serene.

* * *

Julia came back a few days before Halloween, but barely spoke to Sofia and Karin. She simply said she had been unwell, and had decided to travel back home to her parents in Colorado as she knew a very good doctor there. She refused to tell them what she had been suffering from, or why she hadn't informed her friends and, more importantly, her supervisors.

The 4th of November that year, the chronon research team was officially done with the CFR. They had tried multiple times to clone it, or create something as similar as possible to William Joyce's original, but even Dr. Kim had to admit it was a technology he couldn't comprehend entirely either. And so, they simply decided to run tests on it, and analyze how its potential could be exploited to power the Lifeboat, and it had passed all their tests. Dr. Kim had the honor to report to Paul, who had been absolutely delighted.

Sofia stayed behind that afternoon, after Paul Serene had personally come to the laboratory to congratulate all of them with the excellent job done. She was finishing her latest report, when she heard muffled voices outside her office. She walked silently towards the door, hiding behind Karin's desk so they couldn't spot her from the glass walls and saw Julia talking to Martin Hatch.

Though the walls of their office were made of glass only, the room was sound-proof and it was extremely difficult to hear what they were saying. But Sofia couldn't ignore the fact that Julia, who had never been particularly fond of Hatch before, seemed to be highly interested in his speech, and kept nodding.

She remained crouched until they were gone, and began wondering if Julia had actually been sick at all.

* * *

Yet another month passed, and snow began falling over Riverport, covering the streets and the buildings with a thick layer of white.

The city had been decorated with lights and Christmas trees, as well as shopping malls and houses. Monarch Tower had been abundantly decorated too, and Sofia suspected that Paul must be in an extremely good mood because she had never seen the tower so festive before.

Lights and giant Christmas trees could be seen almost everywhere: in the reception, at the cafeteria, waiting rooms and all the employees had been allowed to decorate their own offices too.

Even though everyone around her was happy and joyous, Sofia didn't feel like mirroring her colleagues' mood. After finding a cure for Paul and completing the research on the CFR, she had felt demotivated. Or maybe it was simply the lack of communication between her and Paul, whose e-mails and messages had become more and more infrequent, or maybe both.

"Are you still thinking about Serene?" asked Karin one day at lunch break "seriously Sofia, you are getting obsessed!"

Sofia was lazily stabbing a potato with her fork and didn't answer.

"Listen" Karin continued, shifting position in her chair "why don't you come with me to the Christmas party on Saturday?"

"No, thanks. I am not in the mood for parties" answered Sofia lamely.

"Ok, then I will not ask you. I will _drag_ you to the party even against your will. There are _tons_ of handsome, intelligent and nice guys out there, and you must forget about Serene and start looking around. If you haven't noticed, and you probably haven't because you are too much into our CEO, there is someone interested in you" and Karin tilted her head to signal Sofia to look behind her.

Sofia turned around, and saw just in time a man around her age staring at her. As soon as their eyes met, he blushed and immediately turned the other way.

"Really, Karin? Simon?!" Sofia rolled her eyes exasperated.

"He is a nice guy! And at least he wouldn't let you down. And he is not that bad!" retorted Karin.

"You know, trying to pair up people has very rarely turned out well" Sofia shook her head disapprovingly, and returned to stabbing her potato.

"Very rarely doesn't mean never. So I'm picking you up at 7 PM on Saturday" Karin continued nonchalantly, and immediately ran away so that Sofia couldn't protest.

Sofia sighed and stood up too to get back to work, and noticed once again that Simon Maxwell, one of her colleagues from the Chronon Storage Department, was still staring at her.

"Loser" she muttered to herself, grabbed her bag and left the cafeteria.

* * *

Paul Serene was leaning against the glass window in his office, staring at Riverport covered in white and shining gloriously with all its Christmas lights. It was a beautiful view, and that was exactly the reason why Paul wanted so badly to stop the fracture.

He had seen the end of time: the dark, motionless world populated only by terrifying creatures known as Shifters. He would never forget what he had seen. What he had heard. The noise...

But he had to admit his employees were doing a great job, and that his plan was working out perfectly. In only a few years, the Lifeboat would be completed, his most brilliant researchers would be transferred there and they would all cooperate to fix the fracture and save the world.

Thanks to Sofia, he had stopped having nightmares and feeling like he could lose control any time, unexpectedly.

"Sofia, Sofia" he said to himself with a soft smile.

He hadn't heard from her in a while. He had to admit he hadn't tried too hard to keep in touch with her either, what with all the work he had been doing.

He was kept busy by Martin Hatch, the investments, the construction of the Lifeboat, the recruiting of new fighting personnel…

But that was not a valid reason to suddenly forget all the things they had been through, and that she had indeed saved his life.

He suddenly got an idea, and smirked at the very thought of Sofia's face when he would ask her.

After all, keeping a girl waiting could prove fruitful sometimes.

* * *

Sofia was walking fast towards the exit, trying to stuff five large folders into her bag when she saw the shadow of a peraon not too far from her.

The reception was empty, everyone had already left and the only sound came from the radio on the desk nearby broadcasting Christmas songs.

Sofia lifted her head to see who was standing in her way, and almost had a heart attack when she realized it was Paul, still dressed in his usual dark suit.

She was so surprised to see him after over two months that she couldn't manage to say anything.

"Good afternoon, Sofia" he said.

The sun was setting, and its rays had painted the large room in a beautiful dark orange color and were projecting shadows all over the walls and the floor.

Sofia couldn't see him well, because he was giving its back to the sun and dark shades covered his face.

"Hi" she said simply.

"How are you?" he asked. He stepped a little closer, and the feeble orange sunrays lit up a side of his face, and she could see he was smiling softly at her.

For some reason, his calm expression irritated her. How could he be so arrogant to come to her after two months, during which she had barely heard from him, and act as if nothing had ever happened?

"As usual" she answered, annoyance evident in her voice "excuse me, my car broke down and I really need to catch my bus."

"I can drive you home" he said, positioning himself right in front of her so she couldn't walk away.

"No, thanks" she retorted, and tried sneaking past him, but he stepped to one side to block her.

"Paul, really" she sighed.

"I just wanted to ask you something" he said with a smirk. His voice was low and seductive, and Sofia hated herself for being so weak. Her brain screamed she should go, but her legs refused to obey.

"First of all, I wanted to apologize for the lack of communication. As I have tried to explain many times before, I am a busy man, and I have a company to administer" he started.

At that point, Sofia simply wanted to shout at him that it would take only a few minutes of his busy life to send her a message, but decided to remain silent and listen to what he had to say.

"Secondly, I was wondering if you would like to come to the Christmas party with me, on Saturday?" he asked, his smirk growing.

Sofia stood still for a few moments, pondering: should she put her pride to the side and accept, or should she refuse his offer and go on with her life? She thought about Karin's words, about the fact that Paul Serene was attractive and powerful, and that he was most likely just looking for an adventure before moving on to the next girl, about Simon Maxwell…

"Sorry but I already have a date. Don't wait two months next time you wanna ask a girl out" she said coolly, before taking advantage of Paul's momentary surprise to walk away, a triumphant smirk on her face.

* * *

"No wait, say it again."

Karin was sitting together with Sofia in the laboratory the Friday before the party. They were packing the last chronon particles to be sent to the Storage Department before their Christmas holidays. " _You just turned freaking Paul Serene down?_ "

"Shhhh!" hushed Sofia, but she was chuckling softly "yes, I did".

"Awesome!" Karin exclaimed in awe "I don't think I would have been that brave or self-controlled, but well done! He actually deserves to come back to earth a bit."

"Indeed" agreed Sofia. The guy needed to learn some humility.

"But Sofia" Karin continued while thinking "you don't have a date."

"Yes, I do. It's Simon" replied Sofia nonchalantly. Karin almost dropped the chronon box.

"Simon? _Our_ Simon?!" she asked shocked. Sofia nodded indifferently and injected more chronon particles in another box before passing it to Karin, who would seal and label it.

"But- but, how- what?" Karin stuttered.

"I asked him this morning at the bus stop. He doesn't live that far away from me and we always take the bus together. You should have seen his face. He almost fainted" Sofia giggled.

Karin didn't say anything, but Sofia could have sworn she had seen her friend's lips spell the word 'Simon' before shaking her head.

"Only a few days ago you were all like 'Simon here and Simon there', so what now?" Sofia questioned her friend.

"Yeah well, I suppose. But come on Sofia, I thought Paul didn't have any interest in you at all. He did come fetch you to ask you out, didn't he?" retorted Karin.

"Karin, he is just hunting. Men like Paul Serene swap girls every week. What do you expect?" Sofia replied lazily.

"Maybe you're right. But I honestly have never seen Serene chase after girls here at Monarch. He has always been kind to everyone, but this is the first time I hear him ask someone out instead of being asked by the hundreds of brainless chicks present in this building" her friend said scratching her head.

"I don't think he does it publicly" retorted Sofia.

"But we should have heard of it, no? I mean, a heart-broken girl is likely to talk about it to someone, and rumors spread quickly" Karin insisted.

"Maybe they were not heart-broken. Maybe they just wanted a little adventure, too. Or maybe Paul has threatened them to fire them or something like that" answered Sofia "but it doesn't really matter anymore, Karin. Paul Serene is not for me, end of story".

"I am really excited to see what's gonna happen tomorrow" Karin grinned rubbing her hands.

"Yeah, me too".

* * *

Simon knocked on her door at 7 PM sharp, just when Sofia was wearing her beige coat. He was wearing a navy blue suit and polished black shoes, and his tie was perfectly knotted. It seemed like he had been spending a lot of time to be as presentable as possible for the special occasion, but Sofia had to admit he looked extremely ordinary.

"You look stunning, Sofia" he said, staring at her pale pink cocktail dress.

"Thank you" she said simply, and took the arm he was offering her. She didn't feel like adding anything else.

They walked silently to his car, a silver Aston Martin Vanquish. It was a beautiful and comfortable car, but even then Sofia had to admit she preferred Paul's Aventador.

During the short ride to a locale owned by Monarch not too far from the Tower, Simon had tried asking her trivial questions, and Sofia politely answered to all of them. He was nervous and Sofia's lack of interest in continuing a conversation with him made him even more uncomfortable. Sofia couldn't deny he was a kind and intelligent man, but a part of her couldn't just force herself to like someone else when another man occupied her thoughts all the time.

She kept mentally comparing his way of speaking, gesturing, enunciating and acting in general with Paul's.

When they had arrived, Simon rushed to open the door for her and helped her exit the car. Then they walked together towards the entrance, where they could already tell the locale was full of people.

That year, the party had gone slightly wilder than the more elegant one the year before: the place was enclosed, smaller and the music was loud and more disco-like. People were dancing in the middle of the room, or sitting in large sofas sipping their drinks at their table. Sofia tried locating Karin, but the flashing lights made it difficult.

"Would you like a drink?" shouted Simon over the loud music.

"Uhm? Yeah, sure" Sofia replied just as loud.

As he walked to the bar, Sofia took the chance to sneak through the crowd and find her friend. There were so many people, though, that it would take hours to spot her.

Finally, Sofia decided to text her friend.

" _I am sitting in the far left corner of the room, under a red and yellow spotlight_ " was Karin's quick reply.

Sofia immediately made her way through the dancing crowd and finally saw Karin, wearing a white dress with silver strass. Her date was a guy she had never seen before.

"Sofia!" shouted her friend, immediately standing up while holding a glass of Cuba Libre "This is Josh, he works in the Financial Department."

The guy named Josh, a blond good-looking man, stood up to shake hands with her. "Pleasure" he said.

The couple invited her to sit with them, and they were joined shortly after by none other than Dr. Kim himself and his wife.

"Sofia! How nice to see you here!" he said jovially as usual, before introducing his wife Carol.

"Are you here alone?" Dr. Kim asked her.

"No, actually I am here with someone. But I prefer sitting with you for the time being" Sofia answered, and Karin giggled.

Sofia's wish didn't last long though, as Simon approached them holding two drinks.

He sat beside her and introduced himself to the others.

"If you don't mind me asking, Sofia, why didn't you come with Paul?" asked Dr. Kim, lowering his voice so that her date wouldn't hear.

Sofia felt heat rushing to her face, and merely answered that Simon had been quicker at asking her. Dr. Kim raised an eyebrow but didn't speak another word about it. He, Simon and Josh started discussing about the market and the women about trivial things, but Sofia was growing impatient.

For some reason, she felt observed but, when she turned around she didn't see anyone she knew.

Karin took her agitation as a sign of boredom, and grabbed her arm and dragged her to the bar after excusing themselves to the others.

"Jeez, we picked the wrong guys" sighed Karin "who talks about financial stuff at a date, c'mon!"

"Yeah…" Sofia agreed. They ordered another drink but, just as Sofia was starting to drink hers, she saw something that almost made her choke: Paul Serene had just made his entrance, wearing a black shirt and a dark silver suit with no tie. His date was a stunning girl in a shiny light-blue dress, who walked holding onto his arm and flashing a triumphant smile. They reminded Sofia of two Hollywood stars, and she felt her blood boil at the sight of her standing so close to him.

"Oh. My. Gosh" Karin said dropping her jaws. Most of the people dancing had stopped too to stare at the couple making their way to the podium, where Serene would be holding his usual annual speech.

The music suddenly stopped, and everyone gathered under the podium to listen to the CEO.

Sofia and Karin were the only ones who stayed at the bar to watch from afar.

Paul kissed the girl's hand and, after giving her a winning smile, stepped onto the podium to face his audience. Sofia noticed how many other women present in the room looked at the mysterious girl with pure hatred. One girl in particular was crying silently.

"My friends, thanks for joining me tonight! 2011 is coming to an end, and much has been accomplished by Monarch this year thanks to your hard work and dedication" he started giving everyone a confident smile and opening his arms. He looked much healthier and self-controlled than the year before, and that was all thanks to her. And yet, it hadn't taken long before he had forgotten what she had done for him: if one employee in particular had shown him dedication, that was her.

Sofia couldn't just stand to see him. She stood up and walked outside, with Karin trotting behind her.

"Sofia! C'mon, I wanna listen!"

"Then you go and listen" retorted Sofia. She heard Karin sigh heavily, but the girl didn't go back to the locale.

"It's so… unfair!" she almost yelled. She then sat on a wooden bench just under an empty tree.

"Did you really expect he would come without a date?" Karin asked her.

"No, of course no. But look at her! Why does he have to choose his girls among top models?" Sofia retorted angrily. Karin just giggled, and Sofia stared at her annoyed.

"But Sofia, I think he did it on purpose to make you jealous" her friend explained.

"Make _me_ jealous? I'm not jealous, I am just upset because that guy hasn't shown a bit of gratitude after saving his life!" Sofia shot back, and suddenly realized she had revealed too much.

"Saving his life?" questioned Karin.

Sofia knew she couldn't draw it back, so she had no choice but to confess the real reason why she and Paul had traveled all the way to London.

"So… so Paul Serene is one of those things?" asked Karin in shock.

"No. Karin, no. Listen: Shifters can only exist in stutters, so Paul is not one of them. But he could have become one. He is cured now, but has kept his abilities to manipulate time and… oh this is too complicated to explain. I have taken months to accept what Paul is" confessed Sofia, running a hand through her hair.

"Abilities to manipulate time? What are you talking about Sofia? I thought Jack Joyce was the only one" continued Karin, and Sofia shook her head.

"No, Paul has been affected by chronon radiations too, so he has exactly the same abilities. But he can fully control them, and we got rid of his disorder!"

"This is crazy. This is absolutely crazy" muttered Karin, pacing back and forth.

"I know right. But please, Karin, _please_. You must not tell anyone, not even your family! This was never supposed to escape my lips" pleaded Sofia, but Karin nodded and told her she should keep the secret.

The sound of people applauding and whistling came from inside the locale, and the two girls knew Paul had finished his speech.

"Let's go back inside. The others are probably wondering what happened to us" suggested Karin, and they returned inside, even if the only thing Sofia wanted was to go back home and sleep. She suddenly felt very tired.

The rest of their party had returned to their seats in the left corner, and were still chatting.

"Where did you go?" Josh asked, making space for the girls.

"We just needed some fresh air" replied Karin with a smile "cheers!"

Dr. Kim gave Sofia a strange look but once again didn't say anything.

"Since when do Martin Hatch and Julia Logan hang out together?" asked Karin in shock all of a sudden. Everyone turned their heads to see Hatch and Julia walking together and taking their seats beside Paul and the stunning girl. Sofia felt another pang of anger hit her stomach at the sight of the girl purring around Paul. But her brain started working fast: she remembered the day she had spotted Julia and Hatch confabulating outside her office, so it was no coincidence they were together at the party.

Karin was completely shocked and couldn't speak.

"I thought she hated him!" she finally managed to say.

"Things can change" replied Dr. Kim jovially, taking a sip of his drink and kissing his wife on the cheek. He was starting to get red in the face.

Paul's date got close to him – too close- and whispered something in his ear. Paul smirked and took her hand to lead her to the dance room.

"Wanna dance?" Sofia asked Simon.

"What? Oh, sure!" he answered enthusiastically.

They walked to the center of the room too, and Sofia made sure they were standing as close as possible to Paul and his date.

Sofia awkwardly danced with Simon, keeping an eye on the other couple a few feet away. Paul didn't seem he had noticed her yet, or maybe he was just ignoring her. But Sofia was happy to see that Paul didn't seem too comfortable around his date either: he was barely moving, while she was trying her best to fill the empty space between them.

And just then, Paul finally noticed Sofia. He froze for a moment, staring at her with an unreadable expression. She quickly focused her attention on Simon again, putting one hand on his shoulder and dancing more vigorously with him.

Paul tried to step towards her, but his date grabbed his arm and dragged him into the crowd again.

A few seconds later, someone tapped on Simon's shoulder.

"May we swap ladies for a minute?" asked Paul.

"Mr. Serene! Yes, of course" replied Simon, and immediately let go of Sofia who was quickly pulled away by Paul. His date looked livid while she reluctantly began dancing with Simon.

"So let me get this straight" Paul started unceremoniously "you refuse my offer to come to the party with freaking Simon Maxwell?"

"Yes" Sofia said simply, shrugging.

Paul chuckled humorously and pulled her even closer. He placed one hand on her back and the other on her waist when a slower song started playing.

"You are by far the smartest woman I have ever met, and yet you can be so childish" smirked Paul.

Sofia didn't know what to answer. Her heart began pounding against her chest again, but she wasn't entirely sure she was ready to forgive Paul. And yet, all of the sudden her motives felt pointless: why was she so angry at him? Because he hadn't kissed her in his office when Hatch had interrupted them? Or because he had been so busy he couldn't keep in touch with her? She was, after all, just an employee like the others, and only because they had traveled together to London it didn't mean she had any rights over him. She turned to look at his date, who had walked away from Simon and returned to her seat to stare angrily at them.

"Who's she?" asked Sofia.

"One of my employees, a secretary. She is called Laura, and kept bumping into me 'by accident'. I thought she would be a good date, but I should have known better" he answered.

They didn't speak for another while, and the slow song was replaced by an energetic one.

"I hate dancing" she confessed in a small voice.

"Yeah, me too. I am a terrible dancer" Paul agreed "wanna go somewhere more private?"

Sofia lifted her head and nodded. Paul took her hand and led her outside.

The walked around the perimeter of the locale's garden without saying anything. Paul kept his hands in his pockets, and Sofia tried to avoid his gaze.

"Are you going to tell me what I have done to upset you so much?" he finally asked.

Sofia took a deep breath before answering. "I don't know. I don't know, Paul. It's just…"

She wanted so desperately to tell him how difficult it was for her when he was not around, how often she thought about him, how wonderful it felt when he touched her, and how much his soft voice reassured her. But she couldn't. She had promised herself she would keep her distance. They would simply be colleagues who had shared a wonderful adventure, but that was all.

"What is it, Sofia? Just tell me" he encouraged her, and for a moment she thought he could see right through her.

"I'm sorry, Paul. I have just been very stressed lately. A lot of work to do and I blamed it on you" she lied. Paul stared at her for a while, as if he knew she was lying but then he just nodded.

"Well, it's Christmas now. You can relax for a while" he smiled, but he actually looked disappointed.

"I guess…"

An awkward silence fell upon them, and they kept walking for a while without exchanging another word.

"I can drive you home" Paul offered after several minutes.

"So can Simon" replied Sofia "he is my date, after all".

"I don't think he minds" Paul retorted.

"What about your top model?"

"I don't think she will have any problems finding a ride back home" Paul laughed.

Sofia accepted and, after sending a text message to Karin, telling her she would be heading home and to say bye to the others, she walked to Paul's Aventador.

He opened the door for her as usual, and then started the engine.

They didn't say much during the ride, and when Paul parked the car outside Sofia's place she turned expectantly towards him. However, he was not looking at her. He was staring at the steering wheel, as if pondering.

Sofia opened the door and was about to exit, when Paul grabbed her arm. Sofia turned to face him.

He was leaning towards her, his arm firmly wrapped around hers. He looked hesitant, but then finally opened his mouth to speak.

"I will be away for a while". He lowered his head, as if he was ashamed "I have some things to attend to."

"I see" replied Sofia, faking a smile and trying to keep the tone of her voice neutral "well, see you at your return then".

"It may actually take quite some time. A very long time. I need to… find something. But maybe I will see you when I come back, every once in a while?" he said, with a hint of hope in his voice.

"Maybe" Sofia said casually, but her heart had sunk "good luck on your new project" and she freed her arm from Paul's and walked towards her apartment trying to hold back the tears.


	13. Chapter 12

Sofia spent her Christmas holidays just like the year before, but she felt much less joyous and festive than last time. She tried to smile and act normal when she was around her family and friends, but when she was alone she spent most of her time thinking or checking her e-mails, which never showed anything interesting. She was developing an obsession, and she knew she had to accept reality.

For the first time ever since she had started, she didn't feel like going back to work. She wanted to see Dr. Kim and Karin again – Julia had long ago stopped talking to them, and even asked to be moved to another department, and refused to have any contact whatsoever with her former friends, much to the two girls' astonishment and confusion- but the thought of not seeing Paul for a very long time and coming back to the same routines bugged her more than anything.

But the morning before work, when she almost called Dr. Kim to tell him she would not be coming, she placed herself in front of the mirror in the bathroom and told herself to act less childishly. She had long ago come to terms with the fact that she had developed a huge crush on her boss, and that he may like her back, but she also needed to accept the fact they would not be anything more than colleagues. And the fact that she would be seeing him less often would only do her good, so that she could get over her crush.

Leaving Monarch would be foolish, as it was extremely well paid, and it would improve her knowledge as well as her CV. And, when the fracture would arrive, she would have a place of honor in the Lifeboat.

And so she brushed her hair, put on her make-up and drove her car to work like she did every day.

Her work was always the same, with very little variation, but at least she could count on nice colleagues and friends like Karin and Dr. Kim, who were always there to help and support her.

Her life went by monotonously, with her going to work, where she spent most of her time, eating and relaxing at home in the evening. Karin tried her best to distract her by inviting her out in the weekends, and Sofia accepted happily so she would not stay at home thinking about Paul.

Months passed without a single trace of him, apart from very occasional e-mails sent to the whole research team, or video communications to inform them about new achievements or instruct them on further projects.

Sofia had no idea where he was going and why it took him so long to come back, but decided she'd rather not know. She had enough to think about, and focusing her attention exclusively on him was not healthy for her.

By the end of 2012, Sofia could proudly admit she had managed quite well: she had not fallen into temptation and tried to contact Serene, and had stopped talking about him with Karin. She still thought about him fondly, but she had learned how to mitigate the sorrow.

In a blink of an eye, 2012 was coming to an end: snow was falling on Riverport once again, and another Christmas party had been announced. Sofia, however, would not be going this year. She had promised her parents she would visit them earlier: her father had been diagnosed with a lymphoma, and she thought it would be best to support her mother.

She was granted her holidays before scheduled and left Riverport, where she would hopefully be coming back by January 2013.

Her father started his therapies right after Christmas, and was luckily responding well. But since she was an only child, and her parents were getting old, she had decided to take a work leave until things had settled for her family.

Dr. Kim, being kind as always, told her to take as much time as she needed, and had promoted Fiona as his temporary assistant.

Those were hard months for Sofia: she had to drive back and forth from their house to the hospital, sometimes sleeping there to watch over her father in case he needed something, and had to cope with the fact that she indeed missed her job.

But her family had always been important to her and, even if it was hard for her to see her father lose his hair and suddenly feel sick during the chemios, she was happy to be present in that difficult moment.

After seven long months, on a warm summer day, their oncologist, Dr. Peter Fallaci, told them Sofia's dad had finally managed to successfully defeat the cancer, and could return home.

They celebrated with all the family and their neighbors with a grill party in the garden and a delicious home-made cake, and Sofia couldn't refrain her tears when her father appeared in the garden tired but happy, with Sofia's mother pushing his wheelchair.

She had sent an e-mail back to Dr. Kim right after the party to tell him about the great news, and that she would likely be coming back the following week. He replied he was delighted to hear that, and that they were all looking forward to welcoming her back, but he also suggested her stay at her parents', since Monarch Tower would soon be closed for the summer holidays.

Sofia would have loved to be back before the holidays, but thought it was probably counterproductive to come back to work for only a few days before traveling all the way back to New York again, and did as Dr. Kim had suggested.

One particularly warm afternoon, while she was sitting at the veranda sipping ice-cold tea, she suddenly realized it had been over one year since she had seen or heard from Paul.

She now thought about him as a far-away memory, someone she had shared a beautiful adventure with before a series of events had forced them to take separate paths.

Sofia smiled at the memories she had of them in London, a specific one crossing her mind: Paul standing a few feet away from her in a cylindrical capsule in London, enjoying the beautiful view and turning around to meet her eyes with his familiar smirk.

She felt suddenly very nostalgic, and thought the human brain was among the most complex and mysterious things in the whole world: how it could memorize every small detail of a person's face, but so easily erased the sound of their voice, or their scent. Because she had almost forgotten how his voice sounded, or his sweet perfume she loved so much. It was all gone after just one year…

Sometimes she kept asking herself where Paul could be, and what was keeping him so busy. His e-mails had grown steadily infrequent, as well as his public appearances.

She put down the glass of ice-cold tea and mentally repeated to herself it was none of her business. Not anymore. She had never had any rights to know about his private or working life, and never would.

She got a glimpse of her mother pushing her father in his wheelchair around the garden to let him enjoy the sun: after the disease, he had never been the same. He was grateful and smiling, but something had changed in him. He could no longer work, and had now retired and spending most of his time at home, where his wife took good care of him. They were living an alright life, thought Sofia: her father had a good job, and so did her mother before she quit to dedicate all of her time to her husband, and money was not a problem.

But Sofia had always imagined their life as a retired couple to be different, like traveling often and seeing new places.

She thought that she had changed too ever since she had started in Monarch: she had developed as a scientist and as a human being, and all the things she had gone through with Paul had made her the person she was today. More responsible, more comprehensive, more open-minded and with a purpose in life: fix the fracture, save her family, her friends, and humankind.

Their parents might not be able to enjoy the rest of their lives the way they had planned it, but Sofia would at least _give_ them a life.

* * *

Her first day at work after almost a year was disconcerting. So much had changed at Monarch: new employees –even a new receptionist- the opening of new offices and departments which would be administrating new operations on chronon technologies, particularly for Monarch soldiers and a stricter security clearance. Sofia suspected that, with the construction of the Lifeboat, normal employees would need to be kept out of the basement floors, where they could accidentally discover the secret project.

Dr. Kim personally took her on a tour of the revisited Tower, and was happy to answer all of her questions.

Karin had hugged her tight when Sofia had stepped in her office to say hi, and told her she had always known her father would make it.

Everyone gave her a warm welcoming, everyone but Martin Hatch.

"He still wanders around with that look of superiority and acting as if he was the boss" whispered Karin when Hatch walked past them, nodding at Sofia with what could be described as a murderous expression.

"What about Julia?" Sofia asked "does she still hang around with Hatch?"

Karin darkened at the mention of their old friend. "I haven't seen her in a long while, actually. No one seems to know what she's up to, and honestly I don't care anymore."

Sofia kept wondering what had made Julia so mad she had decided to never speak to them again, and even asked to be moved to another department. Furthermore, she was still working with Hatch, whatever they were up to.

Sofia was brusquely brought back to their office at the mention of Paul's name.

"…he was a lot paler, but looked very satisfied" Karin was saying.

"Wait, what?" asked Sofia.

"Serene! He came back yesterday afternoon. He looked tired and pale, but was happy for something he had achieved. I haven't talked to him, of course, so I have no idea what he has been up to" Karin explained.

"So he's back…" Sofia told to herself.

"He hasn't been around Monarch much the past one and a half year. It was good you were not here: Hatch had all the power while Serene was away on his mission, and I have spotted him with Julia stalking poor Dr. Kim. I don't know what they want from him, but it's like an obsession: wherever he goes, they follow. Poor man…" continued Karin, shaking her head.

Sofia remained seated and her brain started working automatically. Thoughts ran through her head: why did Julia obey to Hatch? Why were they following Dr. Kim? Why did Hatch hate her so much? Paul was back…

And then it struck her: _Paul was a few flights of stairs above her right now_.

A small voice in her head, the most irrational one, pushed her to stand up and run to his office. But another voice told her she should forget it, forget about him. She had thought she had gotten over him after over a year, but the simple knowledge of him being in the same building made her heart race again.

But finally, she decided she would be strong and let it be.

Sofia quickly managed to get the hang of her job again, with the help of Dr. Kim- who didn't seem too bothered by the fact he was basically being stalked by Hatch- and Karin.

With the completion of the research on the CFR, and with Paul being cured, the research team was now fully focused on the Lifeboat Protocol, and monitored the progression of the timeline based on Paul's knowledge of the future. They had to register every event that had been successfully predicted, and immediately report even the slightest change or variation. So far, they had never needed to report one. Paul's predictions seemed flawless, and everything was proceeding as expected.

A few days before Halloween, Sofia saw Paul again after almost two years: he was walking to the nearest elevator, consulting a file while listening to Hatch's report. Sofia had immediately hidden behind a wall, as she wouldn't know what to say or do if he ever saw her, and especially not when Hatch was around.

She carefully stared at him from her shelter, making sure they wouldn't spot her. Karin was right: Paul looked paler and had lost some weight, but Sofia thought it must be because of all the work he had been doing.

When they had disappeared inside elevator, she stepped out of her hidden spot and bit her lower lip.

Why was she so afraid of bumping into him? They would meet again sooner or later: when the Lifeboat would be completed, they would be living together for the rest of their days until a solution was found. Her heart rate sped up at the very thought, but she also convinced herself that, until that day, she would avoid his presence.

And so, she came back to work and didn't speak a word about how she really felt inside to anyone.

When the second half of November ended, Paul Serene sent a video message to the chronon research team and all the other departments involved in the construction of the Lifeboat: he looked beaming and enthusiastic, and Sofia knew he was bringing good news. He proudly announced the completion of the Lifeboat, and congratulated all of them for the excellent job. Last time she had seen him that happy was when she had found a cure for his syndrome.

Everyone around her applauded and whistled to celebrate, even if Serene could not see or hear them. It was a huge success and an achievement for all of them: now they had the certainty that they would survive the end of time, and they would be the heroes of humankind.

Sofia smiled politely and joined the others in their celebration, but her mind was still focused on Paul. She had almost forgotten the sound of his voice but, after watching the video, all of the memories they shared had returned rushing to her.

Their celebration ended at sunset, and everyone started packing up their things and left the Tower. Sofia joined her colleagues and took the car back home as usual.

Once home, an invisible force attracted her to her laptop, still lying on the sofa where she had left it the evening before: she opened it and checked her inbox: she almost got a heart attack when she saw a message from Paul himself.

She quickly clicked on it, her heart speeding up but was immediately disappointed upon seeing it was simply an invitation to an exclusive party to celebrate the completion of the Lifeboat. Paul had forwarded the message to all the employees involved in the project, and had attached a copy of their invitations.

She shut her laptop vigorously and sighed heavily: one and a half year later, her heart still beat for Paul Serene, but he would never need to know. It physically hurt her to keep her distance and see how he had seemingly forgotten all the things they had been through, and what she had done for him, but she had learned to live with the pain and the knowledge that she would always and only be one of his many female employees with a crush on him.

She couldn't remember how it had happened, but somewhere along the way she had fallen in love for that man, who had long forgotten about her.

She could still remember his words: _"I will be away for a while…"_ and _"But maybe I will see you when I come back, every once in a while?"_

So why had he never sent her a message or called or visited her? He must have heard about her father, and that she had been away for a while. And so, he must also have heard that she was now back again and that Sofia was aware of the fact that Paul too was back in Riverport, waiting for him. So why had he never come back to her?

 _"Because, unlike you, he has never really had a crush on you. And because, unlike you, he has forgotten about the things you have done together. Probably he has even forgotten about you"_ said an evil voice in her head.

"But he promised…" she whispered to herself.

 _"Think about it, Sofia. He never really did. He said he would be away for a while, and that maybe he would be seeing you every once in a while"._

She didn't know what to think anymore, her heart ached but she didn't want to cry. She closed her eyes and breathed, before standing up and going to bed.

* * *

The party would take place the 11th of December, and Karin was already planning how she would be dressed and who she would be going with. She had given for granted the fact that Sofia would join, but her friend had other plans.

Truth be told Sofia had no intentions of going: she didn't want to bump into Serene, or even see him from afar, and she just wasn't a party person.

However, Karin sounded so enthusiastic that Sofia didn't have the heart to tell her friend she would be going without her. She simply smiled and nodded, and she thought she could tell Karin another day.

But Sofia never got the courage to confess to her friend she would skip the party, and she found herself in front of the mirror the 10th of December with no clue of what she should do.

Many times she took her phone and started writing a text message or an e-mail to Karin, but always ended up deleting it and falling back onto her bed.

She then thought she might as well participate, but she would be sitting in a corner, as far away from Paul as possible.

When the 11th morning came, however, Sofia woke up feeling dizzy and feverish. She took some medications and went back to sleep, hoping she would feel better before sunset.

Her sleep, however, was troubled: she kept dreaming of Paul, a Paul who was much different from the one she knew. The Paul in her nightmare was blurry and distorted, and had a red aura surrounding him and a disturbing noise filled the room she was trapped in. He chased her, calmly and dangerously, and she ended up running in circles screaming for help, but no one came. When he finally caught her, she pleaded him to let her go, but this time he didn't hold back. Something like a fanatical smirk appeared where his face was supposed to be, and he threw her against the wall with such force she barely had time to realize it. Before the impact, Sofia woke up drenched in cold sweat and breathing heavily.

It was getting dark outside, and Monarch HQ, which towered the city, was illuminated. The party had started.

Sofia quickly grabber her phone and sent a text message to Karin, informing her friend that she was feeling too sick to join the party. She got an answer only much later: Karin sounded a bit disappointed, but wished her a speedy recovery nonetheless.

Sofia fell back on her pillow and sighed heavily, running a hand through her hair.

Her mind started racing fast, thinking about her family, the fracture, her job and, of course, Paul. Her thoughts kept her occupied for over an hour, when suddenly her doorbell rang.

Sofia stood up and staggered to the door, which she opened slowly.

"Karin, it's merely been an hour, I'm still too weak to be able to join the-"

Sofia froze as soon as she saw who was waiting at the door. It was Paul, dressed in an elegant black suit. She blinked several times with a blank expression, and she thought her mind must be playing tricks on her because of her sickness.

"May I come in?" he asked after having waited for Sofia to invite him with no luck. Sofia didn't say anything, but just opened the door enough to let him in.

He slowly stepped inside, taking a quick look around the entrance before turning around to face her.

"You look quite sick" he said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, I am" Sofia replied with a croaky voice "do you want a drink or something?"

"Yes, maybe… some coffee. With sugar" he answered with a polite smile.

Sofia went to the kitchen, her head still spinning, and began making some coffee. She still hadn't come to terms with the fact that Paul Serene himself, whom she hadn't seen or heard from for over almost two years, was in her apartment, waiting for her on the sofa in the next room. She thought she was hallucinating, and decided she would play along to see how far her imagination would take her.

She walked carefully to the living-room with one cup of coffee and sugar, which she placed on the coffee table.

"Thank you" Paul said smiling. Silence fell upon them, but Sofia didn't mind. It was, after all, a projection of her mind, like a dream, and she could do or feel whatever she wanted in her dreams.

"So…" Paul began, turning the cup in his hands. He looked somewhat agitated.

"Why are you here exactly?" Sofia fnally asked.

"It's a long story."

"Are you going to tell me?" Sofia pressed.

"I'm not sure..." he replied without looking at her.

"So I will ask again: why are you here exactly?" repeated Sofia. His silence suddenly unnerved her.

"I am here to apologize, I suppose" he said, still turning the cup several times in his hands "Almost two years without seeing me or hearing from me. And I heard about your dad… I've been a jerk, Sofia. I'm so sorry, after all you've done for me…"

He lowered his head and then shook it.

"You must have been busy" retorted Sofia, maybe a bit too coolly "with your mission, or whatever".

"I have. Really" he nodded "I was looking for the original time machine that created the fracture."

"Ok. Why?" Sofia asked.

"Because I need it. It belongs to William Joyce, and if I don't get my hands on that machine first, Jack might find it and use it to his own advantage. That could potentially ruin all my plans, so I must get it and install it inside Monarch Tower" answered Paul.

"Did you find it?" Sofia continued.

"No, not really. William hid it well. But I had a vision where I had it. So I know I will eventually find it" he said with a smile.

"Did he take you so long to have that vision?"

"Sorry, I can't predict when the visions will occur" he replied sheepishly.

"Why are you not at the party?" Sofia asked right after. Even after his explanation, she still didn't sound friendly. After all, wasn't this an hallucination so her brain was making up all of the answers?

Paul looked at her for a moment before answering. "I didn't feel like being there anymore."

"So you drop an awesome party to come see me, while I'm sick?" Sofia said sarcastically.

"Yeah, pretty much" replied Paul, after pretending to be thinking about the answer first.

They both laughed softly, and then Sofia realized they were close, very close. They had involuntarily gotten closer to each other while talking.

"I really am sorry for not writing any messages to you, or calling you when you most needed me" whispered Paul "but you must know I have been thinking about you. I've never forgotten what you have done for me, and never will".

He stroked her cheek with his right hand, and then curled a loose lock of her hair and tucked it behind her ear.

"I've been thinking about you too" she confessed. If this was a dream or her own imagination, she might as well go for it "all the time".

"That's very sweet of you" he said laughing softly.

They stared in each other's eyes for a long while and then, in a very daring moment, Sofia closed the remaining distance between them and gently pressed her lips against his. As soon as she did, she remembered his perfume, the same he had during their trip to London, and all the smallest details of their adventures. That simple, innocent gesture made her feel so alive and happy that she doubted it was merely her imagination.

Paul seemed to be wanting to respond for a second, before pulling away.

"I can't" he whispered, averting his eyes from her.

Sofia just stood there, her lips still semi-parted and her heart racing. Her head was pounding even more because of the adrenaline.

Paul suddenly stood up and looked at her "I am so sorry, but I can't". He then walked to the door and left.

Sofia was still sitting on her sofa in the exact same position, feeling extremely stupid. And she knew her mind was playing no tricks: if it had, she would be kissing Paul Serene right now.


	14. Chapter 13

Sofia did her best to avoid Paul Serene as much as possible. As soon as she saw him talking to a colleague, or if she saw him walking down the aisle, she would immediately turn the other way and disappear from his sight. More than once, Sofia could swear Paul had tried approaching her to talk to her, but she had never given him the chance to do so, and she started walking around with other people, especially Karin, because she knew Paul wouldn't dare to start a conversation about his private life around other employees.

The last day of work before the usual Christmas holidays, he had even tried to call her on her phone, but she had ignored his call and chuckled at Karin's horrified expression.

He had also sent her a text message, asking her if she was planning to come to the annual Christmas party so they could speak privately about some urgent matters.

"Sofia, I really don't think you should be treating your boss like that" Karin told her severely.

"I can when it comes to my private life. He has no rights to ask me these questions, and I am not obliged to answer" replied Sofia coolly "But I _will_ tell him I am not planning on attending his stupid Christmas party, this year. I am leaving this evening to go back home".

Karin didn't answer, but gave her a stern look before shrugging her shoulders and going back to work.

And so, when her last shift ended, she wished everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year and quickly left to grab her suitcase at home before proceeding to the airport.

* * *

Once again, Sofia had to muster a forced smile and a relaxed expression during her entire Christmas holidays at her parents'. She was of course happy to be back home and visit her mother and father, who was still doing well after the recovery, but she couldn't stop thinking about Paul. Seeing her father on the wheelchair and her mother much more tired than Sofia had ever remembered her being didn't help her mood either.

One evening, while sitting on the sofa alone sipping some hot cocoa, her mother approached her and sat beside her. Sofia could see how old she had become, the signs of time visible on her face. But what hit her even more was the infinite sadness in her mother's eyes.

"What's wrong, Sofia?" she suddenly asked, placing one hand on her daughter's.

"What do you mean?" Sofia tried to laugh it off.

"You are my daughter, Sofia. I know exactly how you feel just by taking a look at you. I know you're not happy."

Sofia lowered her head, and she knew she couldn't fool her mother.

"It's just… I don't like seeing dad like that, and leaving you alone" Sofia explained.

"And?" her mother insisted.

"And… there is this person… He's actually my boss…"

Her mother gave her a weak smile "It's always because of boys."

Sofia smiled back.

She suddenly found herself explaining everything to her mother, making sure to omit the fact her boss had superpowers, and that they were actually trying to fix a fracture in time which would occur in 2021 and that would be caused by a younger version of Paul himself and his best friend. Sofia had a feeling that her mother's tolerance and understanding wouldn't be enough to believe her daughter.

She did tell her, however, about how their relationship had quickly developed, about how he had once saved her life, about their business trip to London alone, and then how they had suddenly taken separate ways to meet again nearly two years after, with Paul visiting her but holding back when Sofia had tried a closer approach.

Her mother listened carefully without interrupting her.

"I think I got it all wrong" Sofia ended her tale with a feeble voice.

"I don't think you did" her mother replied with a smile "he always comes back to you. Men with no interest don't do that if they know a woman is in love with them. If it was just a 'hunt' as you call it, and he knows you like him, he wouldn't be after you anymore. Unless he needed something from you, but what could a man like that ever want from you?"

Sofia thought about her mother's words, which had always been wise and helpful, but still thought she had been an idiot to think Paul could like her back.

Her mother patted her on her hand before going to bed, and Sofia was left alone in the living-room. As she always did when she was bored or stressed, she grabbed her laptop and checked her e-mails.

She almost felt like her heart was being stabbed when she saw a mail addressed to her and her only from Paul Serene.

 ** _From:_** _Paul Serene_

 ** _To:_** _Sofia Amaral_

 ** _Meeting 7th of January_**

 _Sofia,_

 _We will be holding a meeting the 7th of January at 9:15 AM at Monarch Tower, meeting room 03C. Please confirm availability._

 _Best regards,_

 _Paul Serene, CEO_

Sofia read the e-mail twice. She was wondering if Paul had arranged a private meeting with her as an excuse to talk to her or if he actually wanted to talk about work. Or maybe he was planning on firing her because she had been avoiding her boss? She stood there and pondered, until she decided she had no other choice but to confirm she would be attending: it was, after all, an official meeting with the CEO, and she definitely couldn't refuse.

She therefore replied with a brief and formal e-mail and then shut her laptop. A part of her felt oddly triumphant because she would see Paul again in private, but another part of her dreaded the day because she actually feared he could sack her.

"But he can't!" she firmly told herself "he still needs me for the Lifeboat!"

 _'Does he, now?!'_ rang an evil voice in her head.

Sofia grunted, tosses the laptop on the sofa and went to bed.

* * *

Sofia came back to work the 4th of January, where Karin was enthusiastically waiting for her as usual to update her about all the presents she had received and all the places she had visited with her family and friends. Dr. Kim too welcomed her with a huge smile, and seemed to be in a very good mood as he always was after the holidays. Sofia actually suspected he inwardly dreaded being away from the job he loved so much, maybe even more than his own family.

Sofia smiled broadly to all of her colleagues, but was extremely agitated because of the meeting she would be having with Paul in three days. She had told only Karin, of course, who had immediately begun listing a series of scenarios that might happen.

"…Maybe he will propose to you, you will go on a luxurious honeymoon to Dubai and have three children, two of them being twins, two boys and a girl, whom you will _obviously_ name Karin, after her godmother."

Sofia was listening to her friend resting her chin on the palm of her hand and smiling patiently while waiting for her to finish daydreaming.

But Karin's absurd scenarios had made Sofia's brain start imagining too: what did Paul want to talk about so urgently? And why with her, privately? The formal tone he had used in the e-mail didn't bode well at all.

It seemed that time was making fun of her by passing by fast when she dreaded the day of the meeting. And yet, she woke up the 7th morning much before her alarm, her heart pounding a little faster than normal. She tried to go back to sleep, but the thought of having to face Paul in only a few hours made her more and more nervous, so she eventually decided to get up and make some breakfast.

In a blink of an eye, the clock was 8.30 and she left her apartment to start the car. She gave one more look at her apartment before driving and thought to herself that, whatever would happen, she would come back home that evening. Everything had a beginning and an ending, and that day would end too, just like the others.

She arrived at Monarch Tower at 9:05, and immediately walked to the elevator to reach the designated meeting room.

The whole floor was empty, and the only sound Sofia could hear came from a bird outside the nearest window, chirping merrily.

The lack of any human presence, added to the fact that all was quiet, unnerved Sofia even more. She began pacing back and forth and checking her watch every 10 seconds.

At 9:12 Sofia couldn't take it anymore: her heart was beating so fast she thought her chest would burst, and she tried her best to remain calm.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching, and she froze there, waiting…

Paul Serene emerged holding a cup of coffee and carrying a folder under his arm. He was wearing a navy blue rigging coat, a dark blue shirt with a black sweater on and matching jeans. It didn't seem like he was going to come back to work after the meeting judging by his more casual apparel.

He stopped for a moment when he came face to face with Sofia, and both just stared at each other without speaking. He then mustered a polite smile and opened the door to the meeting room 03C and held it for Sofia.

She stepped inside the dark room seconds before Paul punched the switch, and a bright light now illuminated the long table placed in the middle of the room.

Paul gestured for her to take any seat she liked, and she did as she was instructed, while he sat in front of her.

Sofia was sitting politely, her hands folded on her lap and was trying her best to look calm and relaxed. Paul had extended his arms on the table and intertwined the fingers of both his hands and was staring intently at Sofia. She couldn't hold his gaze for too long, however, and resolved to stare at the ceiling.

She returned to look at him when she heard him sigh.

"Listen, Sofia. I won't lie to you. You have been one of the most dedicated and faithful employees I have ever had. You have done things no one else before has managed to do, and in such a short period of time. You have given me another chance, you saved my life! I will never forget that…" he started. Sofia was listening intently now, her heart beating fast.

"Even before leaving for London, I started noticing something strange. One of my employees here was looking for the same time machine I have been looking for the past years too. Martin and Henry helped me with the research, and we discovered it is one of your friends, Julia Logan" he explained, pausing after revealing Sofia her former friend's name. Sofia widened her eyes in surprise and confusion.

"Julia?" she asked. Paul simply looked at her without saying anything for a while.

"Your friend apparently wants to become a time-traveler for some unknown reasons, but definitely nothing good can come out of this" continued Paul in a dangerous voice. Sofia didn't like the way he kept saying 'your friend'.

"Martin and I are trying to track her down, but she seems to have mysteriously disappeared. We don't think, of course, that she is working alone. She must be getting some help" Paul spoke slowly, his voice soft and yet dangerous. Sofia was registering every word and every small movement, like a pray studying its predator to find an escape.

"Why did you want to see me today, Paul?" Sofia asked, incapable of controlling her shaky voice.

Paul leaned back in his chair and studied her face before replying "I think you know why, Sofia."

"I have nothing to do with Julia! We used to be friends, and then she suddenly became strange and asked to be moved to another department and never spoke to me or Karin ever again" Sofia retorted.

"I know you have nothing to do with her. As I told you many times, I trust you. But I don't know if I can trust your other friend, Karin…" he said.

"Karin? She would never do something like that! She hasn't spoken to Julia in ages!" Sofia tried to explain.

At this point, Paul simply smirked and opened the folder he had put on the table. Inside there were pictures of Karin and Julia together.

"These must be old ones. Where did you get them from?" Sofia asked.

"This" Paul replied taking one particular picture showing Karin and Julia standing alone outside Sofia's office "this was taken a few months ago, after Miss Logan had been moved to another department. She had no rights to be there, and neither did your friend Karin. Martin himself took the picture, and he said it was past the normal working hours".

"Hold on a second" interrupted Sofia, her eyes widening in realization. She had seen that scene before, but it was different. In her memories, Julia was standing outside her office, while Sofia was hiding behind a desk, but she was talking to someone else. Suddenly, her memories seemed hazy, and she couldn't picture anymore the person she was originally talking to, nor could she remember their name.

"What is it?" Paul frowned.

"I…This is not right…" stuttered Sofia, while desperately trying to remember.

"Sofia, what is it?" Paul repeated, now more urgently.

"I have seen this before, I was in my office working overtime. And I remember Julia standing outside, but she was not talking to Karin. This has been manipulated so you would mistrust Karin. But I can't seem to remember who Julia was talking to…" Sofia explained, pressing both her hands against her temples.

"That's not much to go on, Sofia" Paul said shaking his head "Martin took this picture himself."

"Maybe he modified it! There are programs, you know. Like Photoshop" retorted Sofia, angry at the fact Paul seemed to trust Martin more than he trusted her.

"I trust Martin, he has been loyal since the beginning and I know he wouldn't do something like that. And yet, I have already had the pictures analyzed by Charlie Wincott, and they have not been manipulated" replied Paul.

Sofia gave him an exasperated look. She had never liked Hatch, but she knew she had no way to prove Paul that his most trusted coworker might be a traitor. But Sofia had to admit she had no idea why he would be doing something like that. It was in his interest too to make Paul's plan work in order to save his life. Neither could she understand why Julia was after a time machine. But she was confident enough that Karin had nothing to do with the whole thing.

"Sofia, I know it's difficult for you, but I must ask you a special favor: you need to keep a close watch on Karin. If you notice anything weird or suspicious, even the smallest thing, you must report to me and me only immediately. Can you do this for me?" Paul asked.

"I know Karin has nothing to do with this…" Sofia tried to defend her friend until the very end, but she didn't know what to think anymore.

"Just keep an eye on her, will you?" repeated Paul, and Sofia nodded.

Before leaving the room, Paul called her name. "Sofia, thank you" he said while stroking her cheek with his hand. Sofia felt butterflies in her stomach, but immediately heated herself: would she betray her friend just because Paul Serene had used his seductive moves on her? No, she had to find out what was really going on. And so, she smiled at Paul and left the room without another word, only to walk straight to her office, where she knew she would find Karin.

Once there, however, she didn't find any trace of the girl. It didn't seem like her friend had been there at all. Sofia then walked to Dr. Kim's lab, and asked him if he had seen Karin anywhere. He seemed confused, but shook his head and told her he hadn't seen the researcher since the Christmas party.

Sofia began to get worried, and tried calling her friend on her phone, but she didn't answer.

She had a feeling something bad was happening: it was not like her to skip work and not pick up her phone. Tons of questions started to cross her mind: why did Julia want a time machine? Who was she really talking to outside Sofia's office? Why couldn't she suddenly remember? Were the pictures Paul had shown her real? Why wasn't Karin answering her, when she had seen her the day before and she had looked perfectly normal?

Sofia found herself running to the parking lot, where she quickly located her car and drove to Karin's apartment. She rang the bell and knocked the door multiple times, but didn't receive an answer. One of Karin's neighbors, bothered by all the noise Sofia was making, came out and asked her, quite rudely, what she wanted.

"I am looking for my friend, Karin! Have you seen her?" Sofia asked panting.

The middle-aged man stared at Sofia suspiciously before answering he had last seen her earlier that day, when he was walking his dog. Karin had apparently looked like she was in a trance, and didn't say hi back to him.

"Ok, where did you see her last time?" Sofia continued.

"I always take Marshmallow to the woods, not too far from Riverport University. That girl was wandering around there all alone and, I tell ya, that was creepy as f-"

"Thank you, gotta go!" interrupted Sofia, who ran to the exit.

She decided to ignore her pride for the sake of her best friend and quickly sent a text message to Paul to inform him where she was going, in case something would happen, before driving as fast as possible to the woods outside the University.

She parked the car at the students' parking lot, and entered the woods. She started following the narrow path between the trees, taking careful steps in order to avoid the fat roots and the large branches on the ground. She walked for a while, with no sound at all other than her own footsteps and the chirping of some birds. The woods started to become thicker and darker while Sofia proceeded towards the heart of the place. The sunrays weakly penetrated through the thick foliage, projecting light green shades on her face and everything around her.

"Sofia?" said a voice behind her, and Sofia quickly turned around, her heart beating fast.

It was Karin, who had a horrible look: her hair was a mess, as if she had woken up and left without brushing it first, she had no make-up with dark bags under her eyes and her white shirt and jeans had some bloody cuts where the sharp branches had scratched her. She looked in a confused state, and was staggering towards Sofia.

"Karin! What happened to you?" Sofia asked while running to support her friend, both relieved to see her alive and worried for her state.

"I- I don't know… I don't remember how I got here… But Sofia, you must leave immediately!" her friend told her with a shaky voice.

"What are you talking about? Karin, what's going on?" Sofia tried to press her friend, but Karin looked suddenly horrified, her gaze fixed somewhere behind Sofia. She also turned to see what had shocked Karin so much, and saw Julia standing a few feet away from them, a malicious smirk on her face.

"Hello there, Sofia" Julia said "long time no see."

Sofia knew immediately that something was wrong: Karin was too terrified by Julia, and the other girl looked somehow different, and yet there was something familiar in her demeanor. She reminded her of Paul when he had lost control in Dr. Mason's lab.

"Julia, what have you done?" Sofia asked in shock.

"I'm happy you asked. You see, when you told us you were working on a cure, the same one we all were supposed to find as a team, before leaving with Paul Serene for London where you actually found one –what a coincidence! -, I immediately realized the cure was for Serene himself, because he was turning into a Shifter" Julia started to speak with a horrible smile on her face.

"I must admit, I was utterly annoyed by the fact you got a promotion after working for Monarch for only one year, while people like me have dedicated all their life to the cause without even having to exchange a single word with Serene" Julia spat the words with fierce and anger, which created a red distortion around her hands. Sofia noticed but stood there, unable to think what to do to save both her own life and Karin's. She had to think quickly.

"But I have been a good student, yes. I have been researching, asking questions to the right people, played the part of the interested employee who wanted to learn more so Dr. Kim could give me just the information I needed and, in the end, I found what I was looking for" continued Julia.

"The time machine!" Sofia exclaimed "the one Paul is looking for!"

"No, not that crap!" Julia retorted shaking her head "Freaking William Joyce hid it too well, I must admit. But I found something much better than a mere machine! I found a natural one, a portal in time which brought me to the day a much younger and more inexperienced Paul Serene, with the help of his former best friend, activated the time machine at Riverport University creating the fracture. Of course, I made sure it happened…" and Julia giggled.

"What do you mean… You made sure the fracture happened?" asked Sofia as she widened her eyes.

"Oh yes! I spent a long time into the past, hiding in the shadows and striking as soon as I had the opportunity. William Joyce was already reluctant to take part to the experiment, but his calculations were correct: the time machine was supposed to work perfectly. I, however, made sure to erase the original calculations made by Joyce and add some of my own. Joyce realized, of course, and tried to warn Paul. But you should have seen his younger counterpart, Sofia. You would have found him _adorable_! So determined and stubborn, so very afraid to fail, he called William's brother, Jack, who took the first plane to come to his friend's rescue like a lost puppy, and here we are!" Julia finished with a theatrical gesture "I was there when the fracture occurred. I made it happen. I witnessed Paul and Jack obtain their power, and got a souvenir myself!"

At this point, Julia opened one arm and a large branch, which was lying on the ground just behind Sofia, returned to its original position on top of a majestic tree. It reattached itself to the trunk for a few instants before snapping again and falling right on top of Karin's head with a sickening crack. Sofia screamed her lungs out and rushed to help her friend, who was laying motionless on the ground. Julia laughed and Sofia felt warm tears run down her cheeks, anger boiling inside her.

"WHY? WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?" Sofia screamed.

"Why, because we are the chosen ones! We are the ones who will survive the fracture and take over the world to create a new one. And you're not part of it, Sofia" Julia continued with a dangerous edge in her voice "and nor are you, Paul."

Sofia widened her eyes in surprise when she heard Julia say his name, and turned around just in time to see something dark spring past her. Paul materialized in front of Julia to hit her, but she teleported behind Sofia and grabbed her neck. Sofia was sure she would die when she felt Julia's hands tighten around her jaw and neck as if to snap it, but Paul immediately radiated a blast of energy which hit Julia square in the face, sending her flying to the ground. Paul then teleported by Sofia and grabbed her arm, when Julia stood up, her defying look darkening even more until suddenly time accelerated until it was completely dark around them, the only source of light coming from the moon above them, palely shining through the thickness of the woods.

"How did she do that?" Paul asked. Sofia couldn't see his face clearly, but she could swear there was an edge of panic in his normally controlled voice.

Suddenly, something hit Paul in the back, and he was launched forward and collapsed onto the ground.

"You see, Sofia" Julia continued as if they had never been interrupted, walking slowly towards her "I needed Paul to believe Karin was helping me. We couldn't risk you running to Paul and blurting out who really was behind all this. This person's identity shall be kept a secret until the moment arrives, and you have unfortunately seen them. If it wasn't for your nosiness, maybe Karin would still be alive. And so, we had to change your perception of time and reality, so to modify your memory. We then replaced the person you saw with your dear friend Karin. Of course, it was never her but then again, this will perhaps teach you how to mind your own business, next time. Oh wait… there will be no next time!"

Julia then materialized by her side and hit her hard in her ribs. Sofia felt them crack upon impact, unable to breathe as raw pain took over her senses. A scream, this time not hers, could be heard in the darkness and Julia was thrown backwards once again. Sofia fell to the damp ground and, before losing consciousness, she saw Paul surrounded by a red distortion and repeatedly hitting Julia so hard the girl eventually stopped laughing and began coughing up blood.

Then everything went black.


	15. Chapter 14

The first thing Sofia registered when she regained consciousness were muffled voices not too far from her. She was lying in a comfortable bed and, judging by the warm light engulfing her, it was daytime.

She slowly opened her eyes and the muffled voices immediately ceased. Someone rushed by her side and called her name.

"How are you feeling?" asked Paul. Sofia focused on his face, which looked pale and worried and she tried to smile. However, the memories came rushing back to her: Karin's bloody figure lying under a large branch, Julia walking dangerously towards her, Paul fighting the girl to save Sofia…

"Where am I?" Sofia asked urgently "what happened?"

"You're at Riverport Hospital, your injuries have been treated but you should rest for a while" Paul answered with a soft yet still worried smile.

"Where's Julia?" Sofia asked again.

Paul didn't answer, but looked behind him, where Hatch was standing. For some reason, his presence bothered her immensely.

"She's dead, we think…" Paul answered.

"What do you mean, you think?" pressed Sofia.

"We are not really sure. We were just discussing it now. Julia and I fought until she collapsed and stopped breathing, so I rushed to you to assist you when you lost consciousness. And when I turned around, she had disappeared" explained Paul frowning.

"I'll leave you two alone for a moment" said Hatch out of the blue. Paul nodded and the other man left the room quietly.

"Why did he come here?" Sofia asked coolly, her gaze fixed on the spot where he had just left.

"Why are you so hostile towards him? He just wanted to make sure you were OK, and he helped me carry you here" Paul replied.

"I just don't like him" Sofia explained truthfully, then everything was silent for a while.

"Sofia, I am sorry about Karin. I was wrong about her…" Paul said, his voice so soft that it almost sounded like a whisper.

The realization of Karin being dead hit Sofia like a powerful punch right to her guts. She still couldn't believe her best friend was dead. The image of Karin stuck under the branch brought tears to her eyes. But just before they could stream down her face, Sofia's eyes lit up as she had an idea.

"Paul! Julia could manipulate time, remember? It was still light in the woods, but she did something and suddenly it was night. She fast-forwarded time!"

Paul frowned at her words, but was listening carefully.

"You can do that too, right? Just the opposite way! You could rewind time and we could save Karin!" Sofia was speaking enthusiastically, moved by the desperate need of having her friend back.

But she was disappointed before she could speak the last words: Paul raised his chin and averted his eyes from her.

He sighed heavily and said "I am so sorry Sofia, but I can't help you there. I honestly do not possess the power to accelerate or rewind time. Yes, I may rewind some minor events, restore old inanimate objects, but I cannot go back or forward in time without a time machine. I do not know how Julia was capable of doing it. And even if I was able to, we couldn't save her anyway…"

"But why?!" Sofia was so angry, so desperate and so frustrated she almost yelled at him.

"Because" Paul replied patiently, but his voice sounded tired "as I told you before, every time I went to the past and tried to change things, I just made the same events happen all over again, no matter what I did to stop them. Past cannot be changed".

"You could at least _try_!"

"But there's no point!"

Sofia knew he was right, she knew there was nothing he could do to help her, but his words were too painful to hear and just upset her even more.

"I need to be alone for a while" she finally said after a moment of silence.

"Sofia…" Paul tried to speak, but she shook her head.

"Leave" she said, trying to control her voice.

He stood there for a few seconds looking at her, but Sofia made sure she kept her eyes fixed on the white blankets of her bed, and he finally walked towards the door.

He opened it and turned around to look at her once more. "Hope you'll feel better tomorrow", and then he closed the door behind him.

As soon as Sofia heard the door close, she began crying in silence.

* * *

Paul sat outside Sofia's room, rested his head against the wall behind him and crossed his arms on his chest.

He knew how she was feeling. He had, after all, lost his best friend too. It wasn't exactly the same, of course, rather more complicated than that: Jack was still alive, but he might as well be dead to him. Their friendship had ceased when they had created the fracture in time. Paul smiled bitterly at the memory, now a bit hazy, of a much younger version of himself and Jack in the laboratory, while activating the time machine which would lead to his darkest nightmare. It was funny to think that to him the fracture had already happened, when in reality it was still about two years left before it would occur.

Footsteps were approaching his location, and Paul turned his head just in time to see Martin Hatch and Henry Kim walking towards him. Dr. Kim was carrying a bouquet of flowers, and Paul understood he had come to pay Sofia a visit.

"Hi there, Paul" Dr. Kim greeted, retrieving a handkerchief from a pocket in his brown coat and swiping some sweat from his forehead.

"Hi Henry" Paul replied, standing up and joining the group.

"How's she?" he asked, sounding worried.

"A bit shaken" Paul answered briefly "maybe she'll be more friendly with you."

His words and his confused expression made Dr. Kim smile tenderly, but his eyes were very sad.

"I'll see what I can do. It's been a tragic event for Monarch. We lost two valid members, though I would never have expected Julia Logan to do something so ruthless… And I suppose it's partly my fault: I did give her fundamental information about the nature of chronon radiations, but I had no idea, Paul…" Dr. Kim finished his sentence lowering his head in shame, but Paul placed a hand on his shoulder and told him it was not his fault, that he couldn't have known what her intentions really were.

"But hey, Henry" Paul called before the scientist could open the door to Sofia's room "I actually wanted to ask you something that's been bugging me."

Dr. Kim frowned and nodded to urge him to continue.

"When we were in the woods the other day, it was still light. Then that girl did something to time… She accelerated it or something, until it was suddenly night. She couldn't have been a Shifter, right? They only exist in stasis, but she must have traveled in time to obtain powers when Jack and I created the fracture. Was that one of her abilities? If so, why don't I possess them too?" Paul asked without really looking at Dr. Kim. He was still musing over it. "After all, I have had these powers for much longer than her. Longer than anyone" he added.

Dr. Kim frowned again and thought for a moment before answering. "That shouldn't be possible, really. We cannot tell what a Shifter is really capable of, not having studied one myself. But as you say, she couldn't have been one, as they only exist in stutters. So what you are telling me defies every rule I know about chronon."

"Maybe" Hatch suddenly spoke with his deep voice, breaking the silence "she has developed unique abilities that not even you or Jack Joyce possess. If you think about it, you can see visions of the future and take a decision accordingly, while Jack Joyce doesn't. You may have developed a singular ability when you were hit by the radiations, so it makes sense that the girl developed her own."

Both Paul and Dr. Kim frowned at his words but remained silence. Dr. Kim suddenly started to nod repeatedly, as if to approve Hatch's theory.

"It could be…" he said.

"Do you think… I could develop that ability too?" Paul asked after a moment of hesitation.

"As noble as your intentions to bring Dr. Amaral's friend back, I honestly doubt you can. If my theory proves right, then these abilities are assigned randomly and cannot be developed. Unless you are suicidal and would like to absorb more radiations to test if you earn new skills, then be my guest" Hatch retorted firmly.

Paul sighed heavily but couldn't find anything to say. Hatch was right: as much as he hated disappointing her, he couldn't help Sofia this time.

* * *

It was difficult for Sofia to go to work every day now that Karin was no longer waiting for her in their office or by the cafeteria with her contagious smile and her overwhelming personality. The office they had shared for so many years felt oddly empty and cold. Karin's things had been delivered to her parents, and her desk was now clear of all her pictures and messy belongings.

Her colleagues and Dr. Kim were doing their best to distract her by giving her challenging tasks and organizing dinners together. Sofia thought they were sweet and she tried to smile and participate as much as she could, but it was tough when she was alone.

Paul visited her often in her office, and didn't seem to –or rather pretended not to- remember how she had treated him the last time they had had a conversation in her hospital room.

She had to admit that, had it not been for Paul, she wouldn't be alive in the first place, and that she couldn't really blame him for not possessing the ability to rewind time. She did also know that, even if he could, nothing could change the fact that Karin was supposed to die no matter what.

He often invited her out too to eat lunch or dinner together. He was never flirty with her, and neither was she. She always felt the usual butterflies in her stomach whenever she was around him, but the sorrow for the loss of Karin kept her mind away from fantasizing.

One September evening, while they were sitting on a wooden bench outside a Mexican restaurant waiting for their food, he revealed her that he was working on a new project which would keep her quite busy.

Sofia smirked and raised an eyebrow, and he looked extremely pleased as he always was when he had a brilliant idea.

"You are the first one to know in Monarch. I haven't even told Martin yet. But yeah, I will soon announce a new project, which involves the construction of a time machine. The very first one created by Monarch!" he announced triumphantly.

Sofia raised her eyebrow even more.

"Paul, you know what's going to happen in two years when the younger version of you activates a time machine. The world will fall into chaos, and you wanna build a new one?" Sofia asked with an edge of sarcasm in her voice.

"Well, think about it Sofia" Paul said simply, shifting position into a more comfortable one "William Joyce has hidden his original time machine way too well, and I don't when exactly we will find it. However, I can start building my own but my researchers, including you and Dr. Kim, still do not have enough knowledge to build the core – don't give me that look, Sofia, it is true".

Sofia looked a bit offended by his choice of words but kept listening.

"In two years, young me and Jack Joyce will activate the time machine at Riverport University by using the core manufactured by William Joyce himself. After the accident, we will retrieve the core and bring it to Monarch Tower where we will attach it to our time machine. And so, we will have a back-up in case things go really, really wrong" Paul concluded enthusiastically.

Sofia ran a hand through her hair "I don't know…"

"You will be working alongside me and Dr. Kim to make this happen" Paul continued, placing a hand on hers and looking straight into her eyes. Sofia felt her heart kick harder against her chest, but she couldn't refrain a smile when she saw Paul's enthusiastic expression, and so she nodded.

For a moment, Julia's words crossed her mind: _"you should have seen his younger counterpart, Sofia. You would have found him adorable! So determined and stubborn, so very afraid to fail_ ", and Sofia realized that maybe Paul Serene had never really changed at all, that somewhere behind his professional and calm demeanor, his younger and reckless counterpart would occasionally resurface.

A smiling waiter approached them carrying two large plates with food and placed them in front of them.

They began eating in silence, but Sofia secretly stared at him: he looked happy and confident, he was obviously sure his plan would be a success and they would all work together in the Lifeboat to fix the fracture and save the world. Sofia trusted him and wanted nothing more than his plan to succeed too, but had to admit she had a bad feeling. He did tell her that Paul and Jack had fought in 2010 creating Ground Zero, which meant they would become enemies. And he did tell her that Jack had obtained incredible abilities, just like him, and that he wanted to avenge his brother who would die in an explosion while they were trying to escape Monarch. What if Jack came back to kill Paul? What if his plan would fail? And she also knew that someone was plotting against Paul, the same person that had ordered Julia to travel in time, obtain her own abilities and help create the fracture.

"What?" Paul asked out of the blue, probably feeling her gaze upon him.

"Nothing" Sofia replied quickly and returned to her food.

Paul stared at her for a while. "I have also been thinking… I may want to move your office and the chronon research laboratory to Gull Island."

Sofia was so surprised she actually dropped her fork.

"The facility there is brand new, and it's been used for military purposes only. But we have plenty of space, and it will be much easier for all of you to continue with your research in a larger and newer laboratory" Paul explained. "Henry has given his blessing" he added with a smile.

"OK" Sofia replied "but how am I supposed to get to that island every day? It's going to cost me a fortune if I wanted to commute."

"That won't be necessary. I mean, it's entirely up to you, but I have two alternatives: either you decide to commute, and in that case I will provide you with a private helipad; or you can move to Gull Island, where a fully furnished house will be available for you" Paul said with another smirk at her shocked expression.

Sofia didn't know what to say, but after a moment of silence she asked "will you provide an apartment to Dr. Kim and the others too?"

It was now Paul's turn to remain speechless, and Sofia chuckled amused.

* * *

Sofia spent the following three weeks working on the time machine commissioned by Paul. She worked day and night alongside Dr. Kim and the rest of the research team, sometimes after schedule since they were missing one employee.

Sofia didn't really mind: the job kept her so busy she barely had any energies to make food when she finally came back home. Both Dr. Kim and Paul told her to take it easy and relax, but she stubbornly refused. As a result, their work was proceeding brilliantly.

The week before Halloween, Sofia finally found some time to pack her things before leaving the apartment she had lived in for so many years.

She took a fond look around the now empty flat before closing the door behind her for the last time.

Paul was waiting for her on the roof at Monarch Tower, where a helipad would be transporting them to the island.

The trip was relatively short, about 15 minutes, and they landed smoothly just outside the facility.

Paul showed her around: the facility was definitely huge and its levels had been built underground so that the chronon research unit was located at the 10th level underground. Sofia's new office was located one floor below, followed by meeting rooms, cafeteria and a parking lot. Her villa was at walking distance, not too far from Paul's while Hatch's was closer to Dr. Kim's laboratory.

There was one extra villa which Sofia guessed should belong to Dr. Kim, but she supposed he wanted to come back home to his wife after work, since she most likely didn't wish to move to a research island with her husband.

Sofia was stunned when she saw her new house: it was a modern villa, with a beautiful view over the river which separated the island from Riverport. The docks of the city could be seen in the distance, as well as the mountains that embraced the city. The sun was at its zenith, its rays reflecting themselves on the surface of the water creating a beautiful shiny effect. Outside Sofia's villa, there was a large garden which linked the four villas together.

"How do you like it?" asked Paul, smirking at Sofia's expression.

She was so amazed and happy she could hug him.

"It's absolutely stunning!" she exclaimed, looking at the horizon from the tall windows of her villa.

He smiled tenderly and stood beside her to stare at the beautiful view.

"I thought you'd be happier here. You will always find me should you need me. I live just behind the corner. There's no escape now" he said softly, and Sofia laughed.

"I guess not" she agreed.

"Remember that you will always be able to come back to Riverport anytime: just walk to the second level of the research facility, and the helipad will take you there" Paul added, and Sofia nodded.

"I hope you will be at ease here" he continued, his eyes still fixed over the horizon.

"I will" Sofia replied with a smile "I mean, how many employees can say they got a huge villa on an island from their boss free of charge?"

Paul chuckled and said "well, I don't commision the construction of villas for everyone. You're quite special to me, Sofia."

He turned to give her one more of his familiar smiles, taking advantage of her temporary moment of confusion, before leaving.

For the first time in her life, Sofia had to admit men could be more complicated than women: Paul had always rejected her advances the rare times she had tried to flirt with him, and yet he was seductive and did things for her any woman would die for, like saving her life multiple times, caring about her well-being and even giving her a villa.

"What game is he playing at?" she asked to herself in frustration and confusion.


	16. Chapter 15

Sofia felt like she was living an out-of-body experience: she woke up every day in a comfortable king-size bed, took a steamy shower in the large bathroom upstairs and ate fresh food daily, which was brought by a catering company hired by Monarch, so she didn't have to worry about going to the supermarket in Riverport if she didn't want to.

She walked to work every morning and met the rest of the research team and Dr. Kim to continue working on the time machine, draw new schematics and designs of the new parts until the day it would be ready.

She would occasionally dine out with Paul, talking about work and trivial things, and she had to admit she was happy.

She often kept in touch with her mother, who would update her about her father's conditions which were luckily steady. Her mom had been pleasantly surprised when Sofia told her Paul had allowed her to live in a luxurious villa on an island he owned, and told her daughter she had indeed told her that her boss had taken an interest in her.

The days went by so fast Sofia barely noticed that it was snowing lightly one morning before work. She quickly glanced at the calendar on her desk and realized it was the first of December already.

Another year was coming to an end, and now they only had one more before the fracture would occur, and Sofia started to feel a bit of pressure.

She walked carefully and, keeping her eyes fixed on the slippery floor, she eventually bumped into someone.

"I'm so sorry!" she apologized. She didn't even have time to lift her chin to look at the person she had bumped into, that the man's familiar scent reached her nostrils and she knew immediately it was Paul.

"This weather definitely doesn't help your clumsiness, Sofia" Paul chuckled humorously, placing both his hands on her arms so she wouldn't lose her already poor balance.

"It began snowing early this year" Sofia retorted.

"Yes. Happy 1st of December to you!" Paul grinned and they started walking together to the research facility where Sofia would proceed to the lab and Paul to the helipad to head back to Riverport.

"What's the plan today?" asked Sofia to break the silence.

"Uhm… going to spend most of the day dealing with some boring yet fundamental investments. And I really need to start planning the annual Christmas party" Paul answered, a hint of boredom could be heard in his soft voice "the same as every day. And you?"

"Time machine. Time machine aaand time machine. Same as every day" Sofia replied with a grin.

"I heard you requested holidays a bit earlier this year" Paul said all of a sudden "I understand you would like to work until the 18th of December?"

"Y-yes" Sofia stuttered, taken a bit aback by the sudden change of topic "if it's possible, of course".

"Of course it is" replied Paul "so you won't be attending my Christmas party this year either. I'm starting to think you really hate those parties."

"It's not that!" Sofia exclaimed "it's just that… I promised my parents I would be there earlier, so I can spend as much time as possible with them. You never know what's gonna be with my father, you know… And I don't think I'll be able to visit them as often after the end of the year. And then the fracture will happen…"

"I understand, Sofia. You don't need to justify yourself. If you need some time with your family, then you should do it" Paul said in his usual soft voice, looking straight ahead with a smile.

"Thank you..."

When they arrived at the research facility, they bid goodbye and went separate ways. Sofia proceeded down to the 10th level where Dr. Kim was already bent over his schematics, and Sofia mentally asked herself what time he had to wake up in order to be at work so early.

Sofia then remembered he had just been offered an important desk at Riverport University, as well as working alongside young Paul Serene and William Joyce on Project Promenade. He must be busier than ever, and yet he was smiling and calm as always.

"Isn't it weird" Sofia asked while they were both drawing new schematics on the time machine corridor "to work with a much younger version of Paul Serene and his present counterpart at the same time?"

"Well, yes" replied Dr. Kim with an amused smile "it was very confusing indeed, but I'm starting to get used to it. After all, the Paul Serene we know is not supposed to exist in this timeline in the first place."

"What's he like? The other Paul, I mean" Sofia continued, blushing lightly.

"I must say, they can be completely different and exactly the same person at the same time! It's fascinating: both are enthusiastic and determined, but I suppose young Paul is less experienced and… more easy-going, I suppose? The Paul Serene we know has been through a lot, and that affects his personality too" answered Dr. Kim, frowning a little to think of a good answer.

"And how is it working with William Joyce?" Sofia then asked. She had heard a lot about him, and had read everything she could about the young scientist, but still wanted to hear more from someone that had actually met him in person.

"He is a genius!" replied Dr. Kim in awe "he has a brilliant mind, really. But he's so weird… Sometimes he talks to himself, and gets easily upset. He's a bit difficult to work with, let alone be friends with him! And yet, look what he's done!" and Dr. Kim pointed at the time machine they were building "we are a fully trained team of researchers, and yet we are still oblivious to many of the things he discovered or even built on his own."

"Do you know anything about his brother?" asked Sofia, who wanted to know as much as possible about the people that would soon play an important role in their mission.

"Jack Joyce? Not much, really. From what I heard around, he and Paul are best friends and used to get in a lot of troubles when they were younger. Jack considers Paul more like a brother than his best friend, and the same goes for young Paul. It's sad how things have developed, don't you think? Sometime I ask myself why Paul has chosen this path… but I suppose he has his reasons" concluded Dr. Kim, drawing some more lines on the schematics and adding some calculations.

"I must say, though, the job I got at the University allows me to be much more prepared than I was before. I am learning a lot of new things about chronon and the time machine itself, so I can help Monarch build their own much quicker" he addes after a moment of silence.

Dr. Kim was working more efficiently than ever, running back and forth to add some new calculations on the whiteboard in the room or to give advices to the other researchers. He suddenly stopped and checked his watch in horror before announcing he was late for work. He grabbed his coat and ran outside while some of his colleagues chuckled.

The rest of the day went by as normal with the sole exception of Fiona who asked her if she could go home earlier because she was not feeling well. Sofia thought she looked perfectly fine but smiled at the girl and told her to rest.

When Sofia came back home that evening, she was feeling light-hearted and hopeful: with Dr. Kim's knowledge and all of them working hard they had managed to achieve great results in a short period of time. The time machine would be ready by the following year, the Lifeboat was practically finished and the new chronon technologies would be assigned to the soldiers on time.

Paul's plan was working perfectly and Sofia was more confident than ever that they would save the world.

* * *

When Sofia arrived home at her parents', she was very tired. She had been working overtime the whole month and had slept only a few hours the night before the trip. She tried to not show it too much, and helped her mother with the Christmas lights and decorations as she now did every year, since her father was no longer able to.

He would just sit in his chair, happy to have her daughter back but hating the fact he was not an independent person anymore.

Sofia went to bed early that evening when she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She thought with a smile that she could be attending Paul's party right now, which had been scheduled that same evening, but she thought she had made the right choice: going to Paul's party would simply mean getting more distracted by him and she couldn't afford to think about their relationship too long during such a critical time. She hated parties anyway, especially now that Karin was gone. She felt a sting of pain at the thought of her best friend but immediately tried to focus on something else. She then thought that she couldn't know for sure what would happen when the fracture would occur, and it was worth spending the little time left with her family.

She woke up the following day at the sound of her mum calling her for breakfast, the sweet smell of pancakes seeping in her room.

Sofia spent a quiet but cozy Christmas with her parents, helping her mother with food and cleaning up or going shopping but she missed Riverport.

When the 5th of January arrived it felt bittersweet to say goodbye to her parents and friends and leave for the airport. During the ride in the taxi, she wondered what 2015 would bring being the last year before the fracture according to Paul's predictions.

She had been optimistic when she had left Riverport before Christmas, but now she thought they actually had a lot of work to do and very little time left.

She slept during most part of the flight, and then took a taxi from the airport to Monarch Tower where she could see some of the employees already at work, before proceeding to the helipad platform which would take her to Gull Island.

On her way to her villa, she stopped only to look at Paul's quarters: the lights were out and it looked empty, so she thought he must be at work in Riverport. She started walking again towards her place when she suddenly felt observed. Sofia turned around but she couldn't see anyone. It was rapidly getting dark, and everything was quiet and immobile around her. For some reason, she felt unsafe as a sense of danger suddenly overcame her. She sped up while pushing her trolley and reached her villa. She quickly opened the door and slammed the door behind her. The research lab had been empty when she'd landed there, and so she wondered if she was the only one on the island.

It was indeed a beautiful and peaceful place, but the thought of being the only one on an island made her feel uneasy. She grabbed her phone and sent a text message to Paul saying she had arrived and was at home. She didn't know why she did it, but thought it wise to let him know she was back.

He didn't reply immediately but he sent her indeed a message back to inform her he would soon be done too.

Sofia smiled at the thought of having company again: she felt safe when Paul was around, and she suddenly felt ashamed of getting so scared out of nothing.

She spent the following two hours watching TV before the sound of the helipad reached her. She ran to the window like a child expecting presents to drop before their eyes, and saw the helicopter in the distance landing just by the research facility. She couldn't' see Paul, but she knew he was there and she felt safe and happy.

After a short while Sofia could see shadows approaching her villa in the garden. She stared at the group coming toward her and recognized Paul walking fast in the first row.

She opened the door and stepped outside to meet them halfway. Paul was speeding up until he was almost running, followed by a few soldiers escorting him, armed.

"Are you alright?" he asked worriedly when he had come close enough.

"Yeah… Did you get a group of soldiers just to check up on me?" Sofia asked in awe.

"That message sounded urgent" he replied blinking once.

Sofia noticed he kept surveying the area as if he expected a pack of wolves jumping out of the woods anytime and attack them.

"I was probably just being paranoid. Nothing to worry about" she said with the best reassuring smile she could muster.

With a wave of his hands the soldiers left them alone and returned to the research facility behind them.

They stood in front of each other, suddenly not knowing what to say.

"It's good to be back" Sofia said shyly to break the ice.

"It's good to have you back" he smiled. Sofia noticed he was still nervously looking around them.

"Something wrong?" she asked frowning.

"I'm not sure…" he trailed off "I have a feeling something's gonna happen."

Sofia felt a cold shiver running down her spine for no particular reason, and she suddenly felt scared. When Paul looked that worried, it was never good news.

"But you should go and rest, Sofia. I have sent some patrolling troops around the island, and I will keep an eye out too. Nothing bad is going to happen to you" he tried to reassure her with his soft smile. He then placed one hand on her cheek and caressed it with his thumb before leaving.

Sofia came back inside feeling slightly better knowing he was so close to her and with guards patrolling around, but still couldn't stop recalling Paul's worried expression when he had left.

* * *

Sofia woke up the following day feeling groggy. She had had nightmares about something unknown chasing after her the whole night, and that had affected her sleep quality.

She was happy to return to work and see people scattering back and forth at the facility. The island felt much more alive with people working or talking to each other. She felt more relaxed when she had stepped outside her villa and saw the blue, peaceful sky regardless of the cold temperatures.

Dr. Kim had already settled in the lab, surrounded by a huge amount of papers and projects: he had dark bags under his eyes and looked like he desperately needed a bed.

However, he gave her a warm smile and hugged her when he saw her entering the laboratory.

"Sofia!" he exclaimed "I have something you may like."

He dug his hands in his bag and pulled out what looked like a picture.

"I took this a few days ago, at Riverport University. You can keep it."

Sofia grabbed the picture and felt her heart pound faster: it was a picture of Dr. Kim, smiling broadly and standing beside a good-looking young man whom she recognized immediately.

"Paul?!" she exclaimed with a smirk.

"Correct! Paul at 28" Dr. Kim chuckled.

Sofia couldn't stop staring at the picture in awe: Paul and Dr. Kim were posing together for the camera, with Dr. Kim smiling his usual kind smile, but Sofia kept her eyes on young Paul. It didn't look like he enjoyed being taken pictures of, and yet there was a spark in his eyes typical of young ambitious people. Sofia was trying to take in as many details as possible: his messy dark hair, his casual clothes, the relaxed pose, the shy smile, and the will of learning and living his life to the fullest in his eyes.

Sofia felt suddenly incredibly sad for young Paul: he had no idea what his life would turn out to be, his dreams would never come true. He would never live a normal life, he would need to give up 17 years of his to try and save that of so many others. Sofia suddenly realized how much he had had to give up on: his best friend, all the girls he couldn't have loved back, his identity, his dreams…

She pocketed the picture and thanked Dr. Kim, but she couldn't resist asking "why don't you just stop him? You know what's going to happen, can't you do anything?"

Dr. Kim took a long while before answering "I have considered it many times. But Paul has tried before, hasn't he? He said nothing's going to change, the past cannot be undone but the future can. Our best hope is to learn as much as we can and try to fight this thing as prepared as possible."

Sofia wanted to insist, to tell him he could try a different approach like distracting young Paul somehow, or even sabotaging the machine, or trying to stop Julia from altering William's calculations, but she knew he wouldn't listen. No one would, and she knew deep inside there was nothing they could do to change what was supposed to happen. Dr. Kim was right: all they could do to fix the past was getting ready for the future.

"We're going to make it, Sofia" continued Dr. Kim as if reading her mind "we trust Paul and he knows what he's doing."

Sofia smiled and nodded at him, before going back to work.

* * *

February brought the coldest temperatures ever registered in the history of Riverport as well as snowstorms. They were forced to cancel some shifts because it was impossible for the helipad to take off, and ferries couldn't reach the island so employees had no way to access it. Sofia knew there was a secret tunnel which connected the island to the main city, but very few had heard of its existence. And since the tunnel led straight to Dr. Kim's private lab, no one was allowed to use it.

She therefore spent those blank days at home, sipping hot cocoa and trying to work on her own.

It was one of those blank days, and it had started as a normal day. Sofia would never forget it.

She woke up to the sound of the howling wind and she immediately noticed the thick layer of snow covering her bedroom window. She stared at it for a while before checking her phone. She saw the usual e-mail warning the employees to remain at home due to canceled operations.

Sofia sighed and lay back in bed: due to snowstorms she had had to stay locked up at home, unable to go out or see anyone. The only people she had seen lately were the catering guys, who had arrived with a larger supply since they doubted they could reach the island when the storm would worsen.

She hadn't heard from Paul in a while, and she was wondering where he had been in the past few weeks.

She felt again as if she had been stranded on a deserted island.

She finally decided to get up and eat some breakfast before getting to work, so she would kill time constructively.

The day went by as normal, with Sofia taking a few short breaks to make herself some coffee or hot cocoa or stretching herself, until dusk.

The sky was growing darker, the external lights of her villa and the neighboring ones went on automatically as they usually did after dark and Sofia was yawning gracelessly.

And then, an earsplitting sound, like an exploding bomb, resonated throughout the island.

Sofia interrupted her yawn midway and took on a terrified expression, her eyes widening at the sound.

She sat in her chair for a few seconds before running to the nearest window and looking outside: everything looked perfectly normal.

Sofia quickly looked at the other villas, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. A few seconds after the explosion, an alarm could be heard in the distance: it came from the research facility.

Sofia could see someone, or something, moving in the dark around the building but she couldn't see well.

She felt scared again, just like that day in January when she had been alone on that same island.

She was sure Paul was not on the island, and neither was Hatch whom she had never seen around anyway.

She turned off the lights in her villa and ran to find a hiding spot. For some reason it felt important, as if she was being chased by a monster.

She was shaking in fear, but adrenaline was starting to kick in: her vision was clearer, her senses alert. She was aware of every single sound, the slightest movements all around her.

Sofia remained crouched in her shelter for what felt like an eternity when suddenly the doorbell rang. She was caught by surprise and jolted, her heart racing as never before and she began sweating cold.

She lifted her head just enough to have a clear view of the glass door of her villa, and saw only a dark figure.

She didn't have the nerve to go and check personally after hearing the explosion. The alarm sound was still ringing in her ears.

The person outside started slamming hard on the door before trying to open it.

Sofia was so scared she froze there, in her crouching position and praying with all her heart they wouldn't find her. She thought of Paul, and hoped for a miracle, hoped he would come and rescue her as he always did.

The door opened abruptly, slamming against the wall. Ice-cold, swirling wind came rushing into the room and hoisted the curtains. Sofia's latest schemes all went flying across the room.

She crouched even more and tried to keep as quiet as possible. She could hear the person's footsteps walking carefully.

"Sofia?" the person called carefully.

She remembered her heart almost stopped beating at the sound of his voice.

Sofia carefully emerged from her shelter, shaking uncontrollably with adrenaline wearing off: Paul was standing a few feet away, his face only barely visible in the dim light. He looked extremely worried.

"Thank God you're safe!" he said, taking some quick steps toward her and then hugged her protectively.

"W-what happened?" Sofia stammered, her voice shaking too as she allowed herself to be embraced by him.

"There has been…and accident" he answered as he let go. Sofia didn't like how his voice had sounded: it was worried, doubtful, even scared?

"What accident?" she pressed. Silence.

She didn't like it one bit. Something terrible had happened at the research facility.

"We're not sure… Probably a chronon surge" Paul answered neutrally.

"A chronon surge?! It's the laboratory!" Sofia exclaimed in horror. Her brain was working so fast: did the chronon containers explode? How? Had someone been in the lab? Was someone still trapped inside? What would be the consequences?

She wanted to ask Paul all of those questions, but she knew he had no answer to that. He had come straight to her to make sure she was not a victim after quickly checking on the situation.

"Martin is at the research facility at the moment. A squad is investigating" Paul continued "I just wanted to make sure you were safe."

Sofia wanted to say many things in that moment, but she didn't know where to start and Paul simply turned his back and left without another word. She got a glimpse of his face and she saw worry, apprehension, thoughtfulness, fear, anger. He knew something he had omitted. He hadn't told her everything.

"What the hell has happened?"


	17. Chapter 16

Sofia watched from the tall windows of her living-room for hours, immobile and as if in a trance. The loud alarm had been replaced by the siren of Monarch squads and Bearcats come to investigate. A myriad of people was running back and forth, the soldiers in their Monarch uniforms standing outside to guard the entrance, while all the others entering the lab were wearing white protective suits.

Despite the ambulance standing by, no body was carried outside. Sofia still had no idea what had happened down there, but she had a terrible feeling.

Hours after the accident, the last Bearcat drove off and the sirens were turned off. The whole building had been sealed off until further notice and armed guards were patrolling the perimeter.

Sofia jumped when her phone suddenly vibrated against the surface of the coffee table. She picked the phone and saw the caller ID: it was Paul.

"Hello?" she almost whispered.

"Sofia? I am coming to your place, can you open up?"

He hung up and Sofia walked to the door to check outside. A figure was walking in the dark toward her, and she recognized the trousers Paul had been wearing earlier that night. He was now wearing a long coat against the chilling February wind.

When he was close enough, she opened the door and let him in. It was impossible to know what he was thinking, his face was a blank mask- which was never good.

"Paul-" she started.

"I'm afraid it's official: there was an accident at Henry's lab, a chronon surge. Henry's dead" Paul interrupted in a serious tone.

Sofia blinked several times, her brain refusing to register his words.

"What?" she simply asked.

"Martin was the only one present at the moment. He survived. He said they were simply talking when it happened. Our investigating squad said the chronon containers are intact, everything seems normal. We have no explanation to why and how this has happened…" Paul trailed off and turned around giving his back to her. He ran a hand through his hair and turned again to face her. He looked extremely agitated.

"This was not supposed to happen. Not now, we were so close…" he said, sounding desperate.

"Martin was there?" she asked, a terrible suspicion forming in her mind.

He frowned but chose to ignore her question.

"I must ask you to leave this island. For a while. The radiations are spreading quickly and we need to contain the particles before we can operate here again" he said. Sofia nodded.

"Sofia, you must take his place. You're the only one qualified enough and that I trust who can continue Henry's work" he spoke fast, resting both his hands on her shoulders and bending down until he was at eye-level with her.

Sofia blinked again, everything was happening so fast and so unexpectedly.

"I-" she started.

"Please" he pleaded, looking straight into her eyes "we must go on. We don't have enough time."

Sofia stared right back at him, and thought of all the things that had gone wrong, that _could_ go wrong, she thought of Hatch, and her parents, and Paul. She nodded firmly.

"Thank you" he whispered, lowering his head.

He extended one arm and she took it. He led her outside, toward a team of specialists all wearing protective uniforms and masks. She was ordered to wear one too before being escorted to the nearest helipad to return to Riverport.

* * *

It was a long night: Sofia thought she would be brought to a hotel, but the helipad landed just above Monarch Tower. Paul was walking fast, leading the way through the empty building.

He stopped outside his office to retrieve his keys and opened the door. He switched on the lights and went downstairs, with Sofia right behind him.

The first thing he did was to put on the coffee machine and grab a bottle of whisky and glasses.

He didn't even ask if she wanted some, but poured the liquid in a glass and pushed it toward her.

She emptied it quickly, feeling she was in need of something strong. On her way to Paul's office she had been thinking about what might have happened in the lab. Paul had told her Martin Hatch was the only person together with Dr. Kim present when the surge had occurred. No one else was around. The chronon containers were sealed. There were no surveillance cameras in Dr. Kim's lab. That couldn't be an unfortunate coincidence. Sofia was sure Hatch had something to do with Henry's death.

"Paul-" she began "You need to explain everything to me. I need to know exactly the levels of radiations present in the laboratory after the surge."

He sighed loudly, putting down his second glass of whisky. He lifted his head and looked at her before answering.

"High concentrations of radiations" he replied simply "Henry was killed almost instantly."

"Killed?" asked Sofia "are you sure he's dead?"

Paul opened his mouth and then closed it again, pausing as if thinking hard.

"Well…" he finally said "he's not really dead. At this point we can only speculate. He has turned into one of those, Sofia…"

Sofia gasped and her eyes widened in terror.

"So he is on the island, roaming freely?"

"No" Paul replied "do you remember the Chronon Box? In Henry's lab?"

Sofia had been in Dr. Kim's lab on Gull Island very few times before, and remembered a chamber attached to it with a large, glass box in the middle. Dr. Kim had told her the box could contain a huge amount of radiations as well as a chronon entity such as a Shifter. She nodded.

"Apparently, just before giving in, Henry had enough common sense to lock himself up in the box, so he wouldn't escape and we could get the chance to study these entities to learn how to fight them" Paul continued.

"I understand. Now tell me how Hatch managed to survive such a powerful surge without turning into a Shifter himself" retorted Sofia firmly. Paul almost rolled his eyes.

Sofia knew very well Paul was aware that she and Hatch didn't really get along, and he knew how much she disliked him. She knew Paul trusted Hatch as much as he trusted her, or even his long-gone friend Jack Joyce, but he couldn't deny how suspicious the whole thing was.

"Listen" he said "I know you don't like Martin, and I know he can be…difficult. But Martin and Henry were very good friends, he could never do such a thing. Martin told me that, right before the explosion, he had left the chamber to get something for Henry in his lab. You know the chamber is insulated, so the surge didn't affect the lab. Martin knew he couldn't access the chamber without being affected himself, so he came to warn me and called for help."

Sofia bit her lower lip, but insisted "Easy to say. There are no surveillance cameras, Paul and-"

"Enough!" Paul slammed his glass on the coffee table and stood up. Sofia automatically took one step back and immediately fell silent. He had never lost control like that since he had been cured.

Paul shook his head.

"You must trust me on this. And you should start trusting Martin too. He is on our side, Sofia. Why would he want to kill his friend? What reason would he have? He wants the Lifeboat to work just as much as we do" continued Paul in a calmer voice.

"Ok" Sofia said in a small voice "you're right."

"We must work twice as hard now" he continued, evidently a bit embarrassed after his outburst "there's so much to do."

"We are proceeding according to schedule" Sofia said "soon we will be able to install the CFR in the Lifeboat chamber, and the time-machine is almost ready, too."

Paul nodded. Sofia noticed he was sweating and he was getting paler.

"Paul, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I-"

Paul breathed heavily and ran a hand through his salt-and-pepper hair, looking extremely tired.

When he lowered his hand, Sofia noticed a light distortion around it. She ran toward him and grabbed it. He looked surprised and frowned at her.

Sofia examined his hand, which now looked perfectly normal.

"What…?" he started but she was faster.

"How have you been feeling lately?"

"Fine, why?"

"The distortion… This was uncontrolled. Has this happened before since the cure?" she questioned again, placing two fingers on his throat to check the pulse.

"N-no. Sofia, what…?"

"This is not good" she muttered "not good at all."

"What's not good? Can you tell me what's wrong?"

"Paul, the distortion! You're pale, you're sweating, your heartbeat is above average. It's happening again!" she tried to explain, but she was agitated. She couldn't understand what was happening. It was like being trapped in a nightmare with the sole exception that his was reality.

Paul looked confused and even scared but tried to laugh it off "Sofia, you're just stressed and nervous. I assure you I haven't had any attacks in years! This was just an uncontrolled outburst because I am nervous myself."

Sofia looked at him and tried to calm herself down. Maybe he was right, maybe she was so affected by Henry's accident that she was getting carried away and becoming paranoid.

"All you need is sleep now" he said softly, resting his hand on her cheek.

She tilted her head to the side and leaned in his caress, closing her eyes and nodding.

"You can sleep here tonight" he smiled. Sofia opened her eyes and blinked dumbly, speechless.

"I'll be sleeping on the sofa" he continued with a smirk "I don't snore, promise."

Sofia wanted to laugh but she was too surprised and nervous to do so.

"Shower room, coffee machine and other biologically meaningful rooms are downstairs, bed is upstairs. I'll be downstairs too if you need me" he said jovially. Sofia knew he was still agitated, but he was doing his best to try and calm her down and make her feel relaxed. The thought softened her.

Sofia went to the shower room and closed the door behind her just when Paul shouted "Craaap, I forgot the coffee!"

Despite the situation they were in, despite the worrying thoughts, despite what she had experienced that night and what lied ahead, she laughed. A healthy, hearty laugh.


	18. Epilogue

Martin Hatch was standing outside Dr. Kim's lab with his arms crossed over his chest, and stared at the chronon squad isolating the building. The Monarch soldiers were guarding the perimeter, their gaze fixed ahead of them, immobile while holding their rifles.

His face was blank, emotionless but he was euphoric. His plan was proceeding perfectly, just as he had expected.

Paul was an intelligent man fighting for a great cause, but he would fail. Hatch knew he would, because he would stop him.

Hatch had showed Julia a natural time-machine, sent her to the future and given her precise orders. She had done her part and died for it, but he didn't care. She had showed some unique powers, but she was a pawn he could afford to sacrifice for the greater good.

Paul had incredible abilities too, but Martin knew he would never join his cause under this state. But once he'd turn into a Shifter, Martin would become unstoppable. He would recruit the Joyce kid, and then he would have the world at his feet.

He would destroy this world, create a better one, a stronger one and he would be the leader, the master of the world.

He thought of the scientist girl, Sofia Amaral. She had been a thorn in his side from the beginning, and she was a threat to his plan. She had great potential, and he knew Paul would allow her to take Henry Kim's place, which could potentially prove fatal.

She had been very close to finding a cure for Paul's syndrome. They believed it had worked, but Martin knew that was just a temporary solution. Paul's syndrome would be back, stronger and more lethal than before and he, Martin, would do anything in his power to prevent the girl from curing him entirely. Paul would give in to his disease, turn into a Shifter and join him once he had lost all of his memories and feelings.

Henry Kim. The memory of their encounter in his lab was still fresh in his mind: the scientist had told him how he suspected Paul's syndrome had not been fixed entirely, and how he had been working on something more efficient. He was showing him papers, calculations, testers. Martin couldn't allow this. Henry Kim had to be stopped.

The fool had locked himself up in that reinforced glass box before turning into one of them, and he would never have him in his army. At least for the time being.

Martin didn't mind: he knew the time would come. All he needed was patience, and he had plenty. Time had no meaning to him. He had learned how to bend time to his own will, how to be a perfect being, everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

His plan was proceeding perfectly. Now all he needed to do was get rid of the girl, and Paul would be out of the game too.

"Sir?"

One of the chronon squad members approached him carrying a piece of paper.

"Sir, we inspected the lab as you instructed and found this just by the glass box."

Hatch snapped the piece of paper out of the man's hands and examined it: it was Henry's calculations on a permanent cure against chronon syndrome. Exactly what he was looking for.

"Very well. Mr. Serene will be eternally grateful for this, Mr. Sanders" he said with a cold smile.

Hatch pocketed the piece of paper before leaving the perimeter. When he was sure he was far enough from the lab, he took a lighter from his pocket and the piece of paper and set it on fire, as he watched it burn with a snide smirk.

"Sorry, Paul".

* * *

 **And that is all! For now. I was working on a sequel as I previously mentioned, and maybe I will continue, maybe not. I just know that I do not want to post anything until I am sure it is finished. I hate giving up on projects. If I do decide to publish a sequel to this story, I will write it in its description box, so you'll be able to find it. As I said, I am not promising anything but I have already planned the plot. Not sure whether Microsoft will ever release a sequel, but in the meanwhile I may provide y'all with one! :D**

 **Hope the story makes sense so far, as it's been ages since I wrote it and played the game!**

 **'Till next time!**


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